Hell's Bells
by Obsessive Reader22
Summary: The grapevine of the Burg has helped out Stephanie more times than she cares to admit, but now it's turned a rather ugly head and bared its teeth. She is used to being the brunt of gossip and rumors but this time something is really wrong and this time it dragged Ranger and the Merry Men into it. Rated for language and serious situations.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

I woke to the sound of my phone chirping. Notification after notification pinged as if my phone was seizing.

"Holy crow!" I ground out reaching for my phone and swiping over to messages. The phone froze as it continued to ping over and over again. Messages received went from 30 to 150 in a matter of seconds. "What the hell is going on?"

I swiped again, but it was no use. My Facebook app joined in the party as the number of messages began to rise higher and higher. When my email started to join in I gave up, flipping it onto my bed and deciding to take a shower. Hopefully the chaos would be done by the time I got out.

*RING RING* My home line began to go berserk.

"What the fuck is going on?" I groaned, pulling the phone line from the wall and heading toward the shower. I racked my brain trying to figure out what the hell I did that would cause such a ruckus. The moment I closed the bathroom door and flipped on the exhaust fan the sounds from my phone seized.

I took a long shower: shaving, scrubbing and moisturizing every inch of me. When I was done, I stayed in my haven and took my time doing my hair and makeup. When there was nothing more for me to do, I sighed and heaved the door open.

"AHHHHHHHH!" I screamed, jumping a foot off the ground as I ran into what I could only describe as being a wall.

"Babe." Ranger chuckled, wrapping his arms around me.

"FUCK!" I shouted, trying to get my heartbeat back to normal. "You seriously need to stop scaring the shit out of me."

"I knocked." He smirked and I rolled my eyes. I unwound myself from his arms and headed toward the kitchen to start coffee. Next to the coffee maker was a large cup of mocha and a white pastry bag. Shaking my head I tipped off the cup's lid and took a deep breath.

"Thanks." I turned and leaned against the counter, enjoying the first drink of liquid ecstasy. Opening the pastry bag, I moaned as the smell of chocolate and custard assaulted my senses. "You are a God amongst men, Ranger."

He chuckled, mimicking my stance and leaning against the counter across from me. He watched with a half-smile on his face as I wolfed down the two Boston Cremes and suckled at the coffee like a lifeline.

"You don't normally come over this early." I noted, licking the chocolate off my fingers. "Is it something to do with the insane amount of messages I got this morning?"

"So, you don't know?" He tilted his head and squinted, almost as if he didn't believe me.

"Uh…no." I rolled my eyes. "I can't think of anything that I did that was so wrong to get this kind of response."

"Well, you didn't do anything wrong." He shook his head and picked up the now empty white pastry bag, crumpling it into a ball before tossing it into my wastebasket.

I waited for him to enlighten me, but being Ranger, that didn't happen.

"You gonna tell me?" I laughed, finishing off the last of the coffee and tossing it on top of the pastry bag.

He let out a big sigh and ran his hands through his hair. Uneasy Ranger was not something I saw often and I can honestly say that it kind of freaked me out. I must have shown my unease, because he reached out and took my hand; leading me into the living room to sit.

"This is actually my fault." He sighed again, bringing my hand to his lips and kissing my knuckles softly. "I became complacent and wasn't careful. I have no idea how it happened, or who is behind it but I will find them and I will fix this. I know that you are going to get the brunt of the drama and I want you to know that I am truly sorry."

"You're starting to scare me." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I felt his hand on my cheek and I opened my eyes. His blank face was gone; only Carlos and his concern and guilt showed on his face.

Ranger opened his mouth to speak when there was a pounding at the door.

"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR, CUPCAKE!" Morelli screamed as he pounded on the door; which seemed to make the entire apartment shake in his fury. "I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR OR I'LL BREAK IT DOWN!"

"Fuck." Ranger growled and stood. I jumped up to reach the door before him, but he beat me to it.

"Morelli." Ranger's voice was calm and controlled; the opposite of Morelli who seemed to only get worse.

"You got to be fucking kidding me!" Joe ground out, pushing past Ranger and stalking into the room. "Where the fuck is she?!"

"What the fuck, Joe?" I shrieked as he stalked into the living room. His eyes locked on me and I swear I saw them flash red. His lip curled in disgust as he stomped over to me. I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could get a word out Joe's hand slapped my face.

Ranger roared, tackling Joe and holding him down on the floor with a hand to his throat. Joe sputtered and swept his arms out hitting Ranger. I rushed over, forcing myself not to cup my burning cheek, and grabbed Ranger's shoulder. He looked at me, flinching when Joe's fist met his ribs.

"Let me up you fucking coward!" Joe gasped as he continued to struggle. "She deserved it and you know it!"

"Let him go, Ranger." My shoulders slumped, my brain still reeling trying to figure out what was going on.

"Babe?" Ranger looked at me and I nodded, gasping when Joe's fists once again met Ranger's ribs. Shaking his head he snarled and released Joe, standing up in front of me as to protect from any more attacks.

"Joe, I have no idea what the hell you are going on about?" I watched as he gasped for air and slowly got to his feet. His shoulders slumped menacingly, his fists held tightly on his sides and his face in a vicious snarl.

"You don't know…" He laughed manically and shook his head. "That's typical. Stephanie Plum actually taking responsibility for her actions…I should have known better than to expect that."

His words stung almost as much as the slap. I looked at Ranger. His eyes never left Joe. He watched him as if he was a wild animal, and I was glad. Right now I was terrified.

"Morelli, you need to take a breath." Ranger finally spoke, his voice clear and calm. "She doesn't know that.."

"She doesn't know what?" He screamed, his arms waving. "That she fucked you like a dog in heat…in public!"

"What?" My heart stopped in my chest and I felt my brain scream. I glanced at Ranger who had a painted expression on his face.

"Let me guess, she doesn't remember gagging on your cock in the parking lot of the precinct either." It wasn't a question, but it left me with more questions than answers.

"Morelli, you don't know what happened." Ranger shook his head and I could feel his body tense even more.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I screamed, putting a hand on either side of my head as pain radiated through it.

"You're a fucking trip." Joe snarled back. "I saw it. You fucking him." He motioned at Ranger. "You fucking his men. The drugs…the…shit. I saw you.." Joe ran his hand through his hair, his face flushed bright red. "Cheating on me with him is one thing, but fucking the whole team I just can't wrap my head around it."

"I never…" I started frantically, tears rolling down my face. Joe stopped his rant and looked at me confused as if he was finally starting to think that I may not know what is going on.

"Morelli, You need to leave." Ranger took advantage of Joe's moment of calm to gather him up and push him out the door. The moment the door closed, Joe began banging again. Screaming disgusting and vile things about me. I slumped to the floor and cried, confused as to what the hell was going on.

"We need an extraction."

I looked up and saw Ranger standing over me, his phone to his ear. He nodded and slipped it into his pocket.

"Ranger.." I sobbed, my breath hitching as I hiccupped.

Pulling me into his arms he wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly. He whispered into my ear that he's sorry and that he will make it right. I couldn't stop the sobs that tore through me. The confusion and hurt I felt was overwhelming.

There was a knock on the door; three taps followed by two slow bumps. I jumped, but Ranger just stilled.

"Ranger, it's all clear. The cop is being detained. We don't have long though." Tank's voice echoed through my apartment.

"Come in." Ranger ordered, picking me up and carrying me bridal style into my bedroom. Tank strolled in, following us. "Get the hamster and anything she might need. We need to find someplace safe until we figure out what is going on."

Tank didn't speak, but nodded and turned back into the apartment. I could hear him gathering up Rex's tank and food.

"Stephanie, I know you are confused and scared and hurt...but I need you to trust that right now we need to get you out of here." He had my face in his hands, gently running his thumbs over my chin. I nodded and sniffed back a sob. "I'm going to pack a bag for you; can you grab your phone and anything else you might need?"

I nodded and stood, teetering slightly. I picked up my phone and slid it into my pocket as he pulled out a duffel bag from my closet and began tossing clothing into it. I could hear Tank in the bathroom and knew that he was packing my toiletries. I took a deep breath and pulled my laptop out from underneath the bed, wrapping the cord around it and shoving it into the bag Ranger was stuffing with clothes. I pulled out a backpack I had stuffed under the bedside table and pulled all the files I was working on as well as the printouts that were stacked on the chair by the window. Lastly, I slipped my hand into the bedside table and pulled out my gun, clipping it to my waist.

Ranger handed me a pair of sneakers and motioned for me to put them on. I did as he finished zipping up the bag and looking around. I was still hiccupping but I had the sobbing under control. There are times when my ability to go into denial was helpful.

Pounding footsteps rushing into my apartment caused me to jump and yelp. Ranger quickly wrapped himself around me and braced me from whatever was coming through the door.

"BEAUTIFUL!" Lester's voice rang through the apartment. I sighed in relief.

"Fucking Santos." Ranger ground out, picking up the duffel bag and sliding the backpack over his shoulder. Taking my hand he led me into the hallway where Lester was talking animatedly to Tank.

"What the fuck?" Les screeched. "Who the fuck would do that?"

Tank shoved a duffel bag in Lester's arms and shook his head, stepping around him and through the front door.

"Santos, get yourself together." Ranger growled out. Lester saw me and sighed, his shoulders immediately slumping. "We need to get out of here now. Until we figure out what is going on, I need you to keep your emotions in check, your eyes open and your gun in your hand. Got it?"

Lester nodded and turned walking out of the apartment. I could see Cal and Hal standing in front of my door keeping the elderly residents of the building from crossing in front of the doorway. I sighed, my bottom lip trembling as the feeling of despair consumed me.

"Here." Ranger grabbed the black Rangeman sweatshirt off the hook by the door and slid it over my head, pulling the hood up so that my face was hidden. He tossed the duffel toward Hal and picked me up cradling me tightly against his chest.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"Lock up and fall out." He said quietly as he rushed out of my apartment and down the hall, Lester on our heels. I could hear chatter, but focused on the steady heartbeat in Ranger's chest. He rushed down the stairs, surprising me at how smoothly he could do it without jostling me. There was a roar the moment the stairwell door opened. Peeking around the edge of the hoodie I saw at least a dozen people standing behind a wall of Rangemen that surrounded the walkway from the door to the black SUV parked illegally on the sidewalk. Lester rushed ahead of us, pulling open the door and tossing the bag into the back as he climbed in.

"SLUT!"

"WHORE!"

"YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!"

The insults came one after the other, a barrage of harsh words and swearing was too much. I began to sob again, pressing myself into Ranger's chest. He tightened his grip and growled as he ran to the open SUV, slamming the door the second we were in it.

"MOVE!" Ranger barked at Bobby who was waiting behind the wheel.

"What about the guys?" I asked, peeking out at the chaos surrounding the vehicle. "We can't just leave them to those people!"

"They are falling back as we speak. They will be behind us." He stroked my face and kissed the top of my head. I nodded and curled back into him as Bobby sped out of the parking lot. Woody was sitting shot gun, his eyes flickering all around us.

"ETA is 90 minutes, boss." Bobby spit out as he screeched around a van and swearing as he barely missed a small car. "Our rendezvous point is still secure. We will be there in 15 minutes."

Ranger didn't speak, but nodded. His head tilted back onto the head rest and he closed his eyes taking in a deep breath.

"Boss, Tank confirmed they are all safe and enroute." Woody said, swearing as the SUV lurched again violently to one side as Bobby once again sped around another vehicle. "Haywood is on lockdown and we have implemented Code Silver."

Once again, Ranger nodded. I closed my eyes and listened to the steady beating of his heart. He shifted me slightly as I pulled my knees to my chest. He pulled me tighter against him, his lips pressing soft kisses on my face. We didn't speak, none of us, the only sound was the rev of the engine and the steady barrage of chatter on the Rangeman dispatch connecting the teams.

I could hear Lester grinding his teeth in the seat behind us, every once and a while a whispered tirade in Spanish followed by a sigh and the cracking of knuckles. The fear and the reality of how severe this situation is made my anxiety rise.

Sitting up I pushed at Ranger's arms. He looked at me his eyes pained, his expression anguished. Releasing me I reached behind the seat and held out my hand. Lester grabbed it and pressed it to his lips, whispering apologies over and over again. I leaned into Ranger's chest, straddling his lap and curling my face into the crook of his neck. His arms went back around me as Lester's hand held onto his shoulder in support.

We stayed like this until the SUV pulled off and stopped.

Lester kissed the palm of my hand, leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the top of my head before opening the back hatch and stepping out of the SUV. Bobby and Woody hopped out as well leaving Ranger and me alone.

"Babe." His voice was raw and filled with emotion. "We need to transfer to the other vehicle."

I nodded and twisted and moved off his lap. Opening the door, he held my hand tightly in his as we exited. The core team stood in a semi-circle around us, their eyes shifting nervously around the desolate parking lot of an abandoned gas station. There was a large blue Range Rover Defender parked next to the SUV with the doors open. Four more Range Rovers, in Red, white, gray and green, parked next to them. Lester and Cal slammed down the hatch as they finished transferring gear from the typical Rangeman Black SUVs into the colorful Range Rovers.

"No tails, but we have chatter on the TPD radio." Tank was the first to speak. "The safe house hasn't been compromised and we have a man there now. If that status changes, we have secondary safe houses ready."

"Thank you, Tank." Ranger's voice sounded so defeated. Tank held out his hand and Ranger took it, pulling him forward and giving him a one-armed hug.

"We're in this together, Brother." Tank spoke up as Ranger stepped back from the hug. The men around us all nodded and I could feel Ranger take in a deep breath. "This isn't just about you and Steph. She's as much ours as she is yours. We are damned sure not going to rest until whoever did this is erased from existence."

Tears filled my eyes as every man surrounding us nodded in agreement. Ranger took a deep breath and nodded.

"Let's get to the safe house so we can figure out what the fuck is going on." Ranger spoke and the men all responded by rushing to their respective vehicles. Cal, Lester and Bobby all piled into the blue Range Rover. Ranger and I followed, curling up into the middle seat with Lester behind us. Cal was driving this time and Bobby was shot gun.

Lester leaned forward and smiled, tugging on a curl.

"Hungry, Beautiful?"

I shrugged and he pulled out an insulated box and a fork. I quirked my eyebrow at him and he smiled. Ranger chuckled and slid me off his lap and took the box in his hand. Lester passed over a bag. Ranger took a sandwich out and then passed up a bag to Bobby.

"Open it." Lester urged, the smile getting bigger.

Opening the insulated box I found sausage Alfredo and pineapple upside down cake. I looked up at him, and smiled. Ranger chuckled as I pulled Les forward and pressed a kiss onto the top of his head; wiping my mouth with my sleeve from the insane amount of hair gel.

"Thanks, Les." I dug into the pasta, moaning as it hit my tongue. I felt Ranger fidget and I smiled, scarfing down the food and relishing in the calm that spread over me. I should be five hundred pounds the way that I use food as an emotional crutch, thank god for my Hungarian metabolism. Ranger opened a turkey sandwich and ate as the rest of the guys snacked on theirs.

"That was great." I sighed, eating the final crumbs of the pineapple upside down cake. I closed up the insulated container and handed it back to Lester. My mind started reeling again, as if the food fueled up the fear that I had been able to deny earlier.

"We're less than an hour out." Ranger whispered, offering me some water. I took it and drank from it wanting to ask questions, but afraid of the answers.

"I smell burning, Babe." He took the water bottle from me, taking a swig and recapping it.

"I'm scared to know what is going on." My voice was so quiet I wasn't even sure that he heard me.

"I don't blame you." He took my hand in his and kissed the tips of my fingers. "I don't want to tell you, but because I don't want to hurt you."

"It's that bad?" I cringed as he blew out a deep breath and nodded. "Alright." I crossed my legs and took a deep breath, holding Ranger's hand tightly in mine. "Let's start out slow, okay."

"This morning, at 2:39 am, a video was posted on the Bomber Fan Page." I cringed knowing that nothing good has ever come from that blasted website. "It was very….graphic and done by someone who has a great deal of knowledge in splicing and video editing."

"What was the video of?" I closed my eyes, knowing somewhat already what he was going to say. He didn't answer and the entire vehicle seemed to fall into a very unnerving silence. "Ranger?"

I looked at him and he looked as if he was stuck on what to say. He kept opening and closing his mouth and running his fingers through his hair. I turned and looked back at Lester who was gritting his teeth and breathing heavily.

"Anyone? Hello?" I waved my free arm and groaned. "This isn't helping my anxiety. What was it?"

"Ranger she deserves to know." Bobby called from up front. "Keeping it from her will only make it worse."

"Do you want to tell her?" Ranger spat at Bobby, who just shook his head and looked back toward the road in front of him.

"I will." Lester growled out. Before Ranger could argue, Lester began talking. "The video show, what people think is, you fucking all of Rangeman. One on one, group sex, crazy kinky shit. One scene 'Stephanie' doing coke off 'Tank's' cock for fuck's sake." He made air quotes around my name. "We all know that it isn't real, you know that it isn't real. Some sick twisted fuck was so desperate to hurt you that they stooped to something so fucking sick that…"

"I wanna see it." I whispered, looking at my hands unsure of how something like this is even possible.

"Babe, it's not a good idea." Ranger began, but I cut him off.

"Ranger, I want to see the video that made everyone that I know believe that I would…that I could…that you all would…" I couldn't finish what I was thinking. I just put my head in my hands and cried. He pulled me back into his lap pressing me against his chest.

"When we get to the safe house, Babe." He said quietly. "I want you to be able to have the privacy you will need. Here you won't."

I nodded, understanding why he wants me to wait. I was curious and mortified and angry and hurt and confused. Was this a dig against me? Against Ranger? Against the guys?

"Do you have any idea of who could have done this? Any leads at all?" I whispered, sniffling back the tears that seemed to be never ending.

"No." He sounded so pained to admit that. "We are working on the website, trying to find the IP address that the video was sent from and any markers that might prove who made it. Whoever did this knows what they are doing, but I know that we will find them."

"I trust that you will." I lifted my head away from the cocoon that Ranger had me in. His blank face was still MIA and I was glad. Being able to actually see Ranger's emotions were something that, even though it's under horrible circumstances, I will always cherish. "My phone."

"I won't stop you if you want to check it." He sighed and took my hands in his. "If you want, I can check first."

I thought for a moment, pulling out my cell phone from my pocket and staring at the rapidly flashing notification light. My phone stopped pinging and buzzing shortly after I put it in the pocket. I had reached the phone's limit for messages. Swiping the lock screen I stared at the background picture. It was of Ranger and me at the beach last year. We were smiling wrapped in each other's arms as Lester gave us bunny ears. Tears started to blur the picture in front of me. I sighed and thrust the phone at him.

"You sure?" He asked, taking the phone and flipping it over in his hands. I nodded and he took a breath, clicking on the text messaging icon on my phone. "Fuck. That's a lot of messages."

I laughed and pushed at his shoulder, trying not to look at the screen. I couldn't help but to notice the cap locked letters and swear words that littered the screen. I felt Lester lean forward and whisper in my ear.

"It will be okay, Beautiful. I promise we won't rest until we have this guy." He nuzzled my ear with his face, kissing the skin below it.

"Thanks, Les." I smiled, reaching up and hugging his head against me. "This is pretty fucked up."

"You're telling me." He laughed and leaned forward, his arms angling over the seat next to me. "You should have seen the com room when the video was released. We keep tabs on everyone in house, but your website has always been something that we watched carefully."

"I appreciate it." I sighed, wishing that I could just lead a normal life. "Who was on duty?"

"Hal." Les shook his head. I winced, knowing that Hal was one of last people I would ever want to see something like that. He has a hard time dealing with seeing me get whistled at when we are out and about and is banned from being on the team during distractions because of his reactions (as well as other circumstances). "Bobby had to sedate him for a few minutes so we could secure him. The only reason why he isn't still locked up at Rangeman is because something in him just snapped when he saw that. He said that if we didn't take him with us that he was going to go out on his own."

"Holy shit." I couldn't believe that my Hal, sweet cuddly bear Hal, would snap. I knew that he was strong, and could be dangerous; but he was always the guy who refused to fight until it was the last resort. The calm headed one. "It must be really bad."

"Whoever did this knew exactly what to do to break us. The visualization of your worst fears can really fuck with a man's psyche." Lester's voice got really quiet as he stared into space.

"Son of a bitch!" Ranger growled, shoving the phone down on his lap. His eyes were closed as he took deep breaths, clenching and unclenching his fists. I heard a small crack and went to grab my phone before he broke it. "No."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"You're going to break my phone, Ranger." I whined, immediately guilt ridden by the lack of concern. He took a deep breath and lifted the phone up and back to Lester who immediately snatched it out of his hands.

"Mother fucker!" Les growled out, pressing his forehead to the phone and cursing under his breath.

"What was it?" I looked from Ranger to Lester; then to Bobby who had turned around and was looking concerned. Even Cal was eyeing the rear view mirror anxious as to what had gotten them both so upset.

"Show her." Ranger growled out, his eyes still closed ; his head tipped back as he tried to gain control.

Lester looked from Ranger to Bobby and then to me, trying to decide if what he was looking at should be shared. I held out my hand and he placed the phone in my hand. The screen was black. Taking a deep breath I swiped the screen.

"No." I whispered my face heating up as my stomach twisted angrily. "Pull over."

"What?" Cal asked, looking again at me through the rear view mirror.

"PULL THE FUCK OVER NOW!" I screamed, pushing Ranger's arms away from me as I reached for the door. Just as Cal screeched to a stop at the side of the road, I wrenched open the door and began vomiting.

Ranger jumped out and came around to where I was heaving, my entire body shaking in fear and disgust. The image burned into my eyes and I couldn't seem to stop seeing it. I knew that picture, but not from the angle that it was taken.

"Babe." Ranger pulled my hair away from my face. I heard doors slam and heavy footsteps as Tank, Hal and half the occupants of the other vehicles rush to my aid. "I don't know how…"

"No one was there." I said coldly, spitting on the pavement of the shoulder; bile burning my throat. "No one was fucking there but him and me. How could anyone just take that picture and not try to help? Why are they doing this?"

"I don't know, Steph." His voice cracked.

"What's going on?" Hal growled out, pushing past Tank and standing in front of me. I stood, taking the bottle of water that Lester had offered me as he sat on the seat I had been occupying. I rinsed my mouth and spit again, careful not to sprinkle any of my Men in Black with my puke spit. "Steph, honey, what happened?"

The phone was still curled tightly into my hand. I handed it to him, curling myself into his arms hoping to calm him as he saw what I know he never wanted to see.

"No." He whispered, clenching me tightly against him. His heart rate doubled as he gave Ranger the phone and cradled me with both arms. I cried as he began shaking, murmuring about how this was his fault and how he had failed me. "I will find whoever is doing this and kill them. I promise you, Steph. They will not live long enough to even regret what they did."

"Boss." Cal called out. "We have to get moving. State patrol is half a mile out, we can't risk being pulled over."

"Tank find out where this was sent from. " He handed Tank the phone, ignoring the grimace that spread across the Big Guy's face. "Call Morris and have him track it on his end as well."

Hal kissed my cheek and handed me to Ranger who crawled back into the Range Rover. Lester crawled back over the seat and we were off. I looked back, seeing Hal scream a gut wrenching scream and fall to his knees on the side of the road.

"He'll be okay, Babe." Ranger whispered. "My brothers don't leave a man behind, and we don't let them feel that alone."

I nodded, wiping back more tears.

The picture still burned into my brain I couldn't help but to think about it.

It was from two years ago after a distraction. The man had gotten away but we didn't think anything of it because he was not a violent criminal. Hal had brought me home, while Ranger and the guys had kept searching. After clearing my apartment, he said goodnight and went back down to the parking lot to keep an eye out.

The man had already been in the building, and as soon as I shut off the lights to go to bed the man had broken in. He had raped and beaten me and left me to be found by Hal and Ranger the next morning. Hal has never forgiven himself and I have never forgotten it. The man was found the next morning floating in the river with his throat cut, his genitals removed and his hands broken. Ranger denied it was him, but I knew that it was either him or Hal.

"Ranger." I sobbed.

"Babe?"

"I'm scared."

"So am I, Babe." He kissed my head and pulled me close to him.

We arrived at the safe house a short while later, all of us quiet and deep in thought. It was an old farm house in the middle of nowhere. A large barn sat in one corner of the property and a garage sat up against the driveway across from the main entrance. A wrap around porch wound around the home with a swing hanging from the ceiling on one end. The home looked like something from an old western with a stone walkway and gardens blooming along the perimeter of the porch.

"Let's get the vehicles in the garage and get the system updated." Ranger said, lurching from the Range Rover and holding his hand out to me. I took it and slid out, my entire body aching from the emotional stress over the past few hours.

A man, dressed in jeans and a button up green shirt, came out the front door and waved. He was in his mid-thirties and looked a lot like the rest of the Rangeman crew minus the all-black attire and angry scowl. He strolled down the steps and was greeted by Tank, who took his hand and slapped his back.

"Carter." Ranger spoke as the man walked up to where we were standing. "Thanks for dropping everything and getting this done so quickly. I appreciate it."

"It's nothing, Brother." Carter put out his hand. Ranger took it and smiled. "This must be Stephanie Plum." He looked toward me. I nodded.

"It is." Ranger grinned now, wrapping his arm possessively around my shoulders. "Babe, this is Holland Carter. He and I served together years ago."

"It's nice to meet you." I held out my hand to shake. He took it and pressed it gently against his lips. Ranger growled, causing Carter to laugh and wink. He dropped my hand and looked at the guys scrambling to remove gear and get the vehicles in the garage.

"Let's get you inside and settled." Carter waved as he turned around. "I'll send out the boys to help get the gear in."

On wobbly legs and firmly supported by Ranger's strong arm, we made our way toward the steps. Carter, being a few steps ahead, whistled into the door. As we reached the front door we heard and felt a rumbling. Thankfully Ranger was quick on his feet and quickly pulled me off to the side of the door way as four giant guys burst from the door and flipped over the railing of the balcony.

"What the hell was that?" I whipped my head around and watched as the men, who looked about 19 years old, tackle the guys to the gravel driveway. I lurched forward automatically, bracing myself to fight for my friends.

"Babe." Ranger grabbed me around my waist and held me. I watched as the tackles turned into hugs and laughter. "They are just rough housing. Come on, let's get inside."

Shaking my head we pushed through the door into the entry way of the home. It was just as I would imagine an old farm house to be. There was a beautifully carved staircase directly in front of the door, lit by a rustic chandelier and speckled with generic artwork on the walls. Lovingly worn carpet runners acted as a guide into the large sitting room to the right, and a formal dining room to the left. I could see the kitchen down a hallway that ran along the side of the stairwell as well as a doorway that seemed to tuck right underneath the stairs.

Carter walked into the sitting room and motioned for Ranger and I to sit. As we did, I took in the room. A huge fireplace sat against the far wall, a large cast iron frame filled with chopped wood leaned up against it. A large mirror hung over the fireplace reflecting the antique figures sitting precariously on the large wooden mantle. Two overstuffed couches sat in front of the fire, facing one another, separated by a heavy looking wood table decorated with a wooden carving of a couple embracing.

We sat down, our backs facing the window dressed with thick curtains in dark muted tones. Looking on the across the other sofa, where Carter plopped down, was a nook with a few wing backed chairs and a small television. The entire home seemed cozy and lived in.

"Bedrooms are all set up. I have the bedroom at the top of the stairs. I figure Tank and I could bunk there with Lester. You and Ms. Plum can have the bedroom at the far end of the hall. The boys are staying in the barn and have made up some beds there for some of the rest of the guys." Carter folded his hands in front of himself, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

"That's wonderful. Thank you, Carter." Ranger seemed to relax considerably, leaning back against the sofa. Even though this house was cozy and comfortable in every way imaginable, I was still finding it nearly impossible to relax. Noticing how tense I was, Ranger took my hands in his. "Carter do you finish the master bathroom yet?"

"I did." Carter smiled and got to his feet. Turning to me, he held out his hand. "Stephanie why don't I take you upstairs and get you settled in your room. Ranger can get your things brought up."

I looked at Ranger for a moment, easing as he nodded. Taking Carter's hand I stood and followed him as he walked up the stairs. I looked at the paintings as we walked, and noticed something strange. I stopped and leaned forward looking more closely at one. The painting was of a farmhouse sitting in the valley between two very generic looking mountains. Trees and flowers speckled the landscape as well as birds, and livestock. It was the bright blue Smurf rocking on the front stoop that caught my eye.

"Jaxson likes to paint." Carter's voice startled me. I turned seeing that he was standing directly behind me.

"There's a Smurf." I pointed, my eyebrow quirked up.

"He likes to make things interesting. When you meet him at dinner you will see why it makes sense." He stepped back and motioned to continue. I took one last look at the Smurf, shook my head and continue up the stairs.

Carter turned right at the top of the stairs, passing three doors before stopping at the end of the hall. Pushing the door open he smiled.

"This is your room, Ms. Plum." Carter stepped inside and held the door for me to walk in.

"Please call me Stephanie or Steph." I smiled taking in the room. "This is beautiful."

The bed was the centerpiece of the room, a large bed with a heavy wooden frame. Two matching night stands, sat on either side each holding a small lap. A large window with thick white curtains hung to the floor across from the door. A small setee perched next to the window flanked by bookcases filled with ancient leather bound books. Across from the bed was a nice sized walk in closet smaller than Rangers, but a lot bigger than the closet I had at home.

"Come this way, please." Carter walked past the far side of the bedroom and opened a heavy carved wooden door. I followed him, running my hand along the silky bedding that covered the bed. "This is your private bathroom. Well, you and Ranger."

"Uhh." I looked around the room feeling my cheeks heat up. "We're not…"

"Darlin' if you don't want to bunk with that man I don't blame you one bit. Just give the word and I can shove him into the bedroom on the other side of Tank's." He smiled and winked.

"Oh no. That's fine." I waved my hands nervously.

"There are towels and soaps in here." He opened a free standing cabinet showing the shelves filled with thick towels and bottles of various soaps and lotions. I walked in and placed my hands on the double sink. A huge lit mirror hung over the sinks framed with a two inch thick carved wood. Small bowls of soaps, glass bottles of hand soap and lotions and hand towels were expertly placed. There was a large natural stone shower in the far corner of the bathroom. The toilet sat across from a beautiful antique claw foot tub that was larger than any tub I have ever seen. It was so deep that I could probably sit up straight and have water still cover all my important parts.

"This place is amazing." I whispered, running my hands over the bronze faucet. "Is this really a safe house? It seems like this is someone's home."

"It is a safe house, but it's also a home." Carter laughed, running his hair through his thick reddish brown hair. "I'm going to get downstairs and start on dinner. Ranger will be up soon with your things, but feel free to shower, take a bath or nap."

"Thank you." I turned and looked longingly at the tub.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Carter had almost made his way out of the bathroom before turning around. "We have a tankless water heater, so you don't need to worry about running out of hot water." He winked and then quickly left, closing the bedroom door as he went.

"Well.." I said to myself. "I think a nice hot bath would feel amazing."

I turned on the taps, adjusting the water until he was just a smidge too warm. Walking over to the cabinet I looked through the various bottles and jars, pulling out some lavender smelling bath oils and a large towel. I dumped a generous amount into the hot water and went into the bedroom to wait for it to fill. Kicking off my shoes, I launched myself on the bed feeling myself sink a good six inches into the heavenly mattress.

"Comfy?" Ranger laughed, causing me to scream in surprise.

Thunderous footsteps were followed shortly after by the door being kicked open. Hal and Lester stood, guns drawn, looking around the room. I sat up as their shoulders hunched.

"Holy crap, Beautiful. You can't be screaming like that. I thought…" Lester shook his head, never finishing his sentence. He turned to Ranger, pointing a finger at him. "Cousin, I love you, but stop scaring the damned woman. She's going to give me a fucking heart attack."

Shaking his head, Lester left followed by Hal who just winked and smiled before closing the door behind him. Ranger shook his head and placed the duffel bags and backpack that were brought from my apartment onto the bed.

"Oh shit." I hopped up remembering the bath that I was filling. Ranger leaned to one side, watching as I ran into the bathroom to check the status of the bathtub. It wasn't even half way filled. I checked the temperature of the water impressed that it hadn't gotten cooler at all.

"I figured you would like the tub." Ranger strolled in with my bathroom bag, plopping it on the counter. He placed another one next to it that I recognized as his. "You may never want to get out once you sink in."

I nodded and strolled over to him leaning against the counter top with his arms crossed. I pulled open my bag and saw what Tank had tossed in there for me. Chuckling as I realized that he grabbed everything that I would have.

"What?" He asked, looking over my shoulder. "Tank forget something?"

"No, the opposite actually." I leaned back against Ranger taking a deep breath. "You are all way too good to me."

"We aren't good enough." He whispered, kissing the spot behind my ear. After a quick squeeze, he made his way to the cabinet and pulled out an extra towel. I watched as he dipped his hand into the water, shaking off the excess turning off the water. The tub was full; steaming and covered with a thick layer of bubbles. He looked at me and raised his eyebrow, tilting his head toward the tub. In Ranger speak, I was interpreting it as 'may I join you?'.

"No funny business." I smiled which turned into giggles when his face lit up and he began stripping. Not to be beat into the bath I drew for myself I quickly followed his lead, stripping off my clothes and tossing them into a pile by the door. He stepped into the tub and reached out his hand to help me in. I moaned as I sank into the warm bubbly abyss.

"Babe." He chuckled and slid in behind me, pulling me against his chest. The tub was so deep and large that we both sat submerged to our armpits. My head lolled back onto his shoulder as I let the smell of lavender and the steam from the water relax my body. "I need to get a tub like this." He whispered, pushing back the damp curls from my neck and peppering the revealed skin with kisses.

"I would have to move in if you did." Stretching my legs out and pointing my toes. I still wasn't touching the other end of the tub.

"Then it's settled. I'll have one installed immediately."

**AUTHOR's NOTE: Thank you for all of your wonderful responses and reviews. I know that this last scene may seem a little out of place, but I believe that Steph needed to step back into denial for a moment and enjoy something like this with Ranger. He needed it, too. There are a lot of unanswered questions, and I know that this chapter just adds more. I promise that the questions will be answered. Thanks again.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

We stayed in the tub until we were both pruney and the water began to cool. I don't think either or us truly wanted to leave it, especially since the moment we got downstairs reality will hit us again. Ranger isn't usually the kind of guy that revels in denial, but this seemed to be completely different.

We were both sitting on the edge of the bed, fully dressed staring off into space. His hand cradled mine, his thumb drawing lazy circles over my knuckles. Looking over at him I saw the strong line of his jaw clenching and unclenching; the knot of muscle protruding over and over. His lips were pressed into a line occasionally opening and closing as if he wanted to speak but just couldn't find words.

"Carlos." I whispered. I never used his name, and the shock on his face showed that as he turned to look at me. "We will figure this out."

Not speaking, he nodded and brought my hand to his lips pressing a kiss to the knuckles. After a moment, he took a deep breath and stood, helping me off the bed and never releasing my hand. We walked in silence down the hallway and stairs, stopping for a moment before we entered the dining room.

"I know you want to see it." He spoke quietly, his eyes never leaving the group of men huddled around the large dining room table. They were deep in discussion and hadn't even noticed us standing there. "I know you should see it, but I don't know if I can watch it again."

"I wouldn't ask you to." I squeezed his hand and tugged slightly so he would look at me. When he turned I smiled. "I may be naïve and emotional, but I can handle this. I need to know what I am being portrayed as. I don't want you to watch it with me. I need you to be there to support me when I can't handle it."

He nodded, his lips curling into a weak smile. Before we could say anything else, my stomach let out a loud growl, causing everyone's heads to spin in my direction.

"Let's feed the beast." Ranger chuckled, releasing my hand and curling his arm around my shoulders. As we strolled into the dining room the men rose to their feet. Each one pulled me into their arms and kissed my cheeks promising to get whoever did this. Each one shared their strength with me as I went from Merry Man to Merry Man.

"Beautiful." Lester's arms curled around me squeezing me tightly against his chest. "I know that I say things that are inappropriate and vulgar at times, but please know that I could never allow this kind of disrespect especially you."

"I know, Les." I snuggled into his embrace, kissing his cheeks as he set me back on my feet.

"Little Girl." Tank smiled, cupping my chin in his giant hand. He swallowed hard, looking in my eyes. I pushed forward and wrapped my arms around his waist. Gently he curled his massive arms around me and kissed the top of my head.

"I know, Big Guy. I know."

Last was Hal, shifting from foot to foot a few feet away from everyone else. He looked at me with such pain in his eyes that I couldn't help the tightness in my chest. Breaking from the rest of the guys, I walked up to him and launched myself in his arms. He lifted me off my feet, his arms wrapped around me possessively. His huge chest shuddered as he buried his face in my hair. Tears flowed from my eyes as I felt him shake with his own silent tears.

The room was silent, but I wasn't paying attention to everyone else. Hal had been my protector, my big brother, and my teddy bear ever since I stunned him all those years ago. I stroked his hair and whispered to him how much I loved him and appreciated him until he let out a shaky sigh and pulled back.

"I'm sorry." He whispered his voice cracking. I shook my head and cupped his face, pressing his forehead against mine. "This is all my fault. I swear to you that I will make this right."

"This isn't your fault, Hal." I wiped away the unfallen tears clinging to his thick eyelashes. "You didn't do this. There is no way I would ever set any blame on you. We'll fix this, all of us together."

He nodded and sniffed, pressing a kiss onto my forehead and giving me a last squeeze before setting me on my feet. Ranger was standing there and nodded to Hal as he pulled me into his arms; leading me toward a chair.

"Let's eat." Ranger clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "We have a lot of shit to go over, but for now let's take a minute to refocus and refuel."

Carter rushed through a swinging door as the guys found seats around the massive table. Moments later, Carter returned his arms filled with serving bowls and followed by the three guys from earlier their arms equally full.

We ate in comfortable silence, enjoying the feast that Carter had prepared.

"Stephanie, these are the boys." Carter broke the quiet, wiping his mouth on a napkin. "The one on the end by Cal is Jaxon." He pointed to a large man with light blonde hair and bright green eyes. He smiled at me tipping an invisible hat and winking. "That oaf over there is Turner." Carter pointed to a dark haired man who was stopped mid-shovel to smile. His dark brown eyes were surrounded by incredibly thick eyelashes with freckle speckled cheeks. "And lastly is Ryan." The last man stood and bowed, sweeping his arm dramatically. His dark hair was longer, curling at the base of his neck, and framed his boyish face. His eyes were a deep blue and were filled with mischief.

"It's nice to meet you." I smiled. "I'm Stephanie Plum, but please call me Steph or Stephanie. I hate being called ma'am or Ms. Plum." I wrinkled my nose and a quiet chuckle rippled through the Merry Men. They know all too well how seriously I took being called by my name.

"That's easy enough." Jaxon responded, popping a chunk of biscuit into his mouth and smiling.

"So, Jaxon." Carter picked up his fork pointing at it casually toward the stairwell. "Stephanie here noticed your painting on the stairs."

"She did, did she?" Jaxson smiled broadly and leaned on the table in my direction. "Are you into art, Stephanie?"

"Not really." Laughing, I caught Ranger eye Jaxon from the corner of my eye. I reached under the table and grabbed his hand. "I just noticed that there is a Smurf on the rocking chair. It kind of threw me off a bit."

"Really? You noticed it?" Jaxson laughed, leaning back in his chair. "That painting has been up forever and you have to be the first person to ever notice it. The only reason Carter knew it was there was because I showed it to him."

"Beautiful has a good eye." Les spoke around the mass of food in his mouth. "Not much gets past her."

"Remember that one time when she found that skip at the mall during Christmas shopping season. He was in disguise. It was like Where's Waldo and she spotted him immediately." Cal shared, tapping Woody on his arm with the back of his hand. "Or that time that she noticed that you had two different socks on."

"Why would that be hard?" Ryan asked, his eyebrows quirked.

"Because he was wearing boots, dressed in full gear and crouching in a dark alley." Cal laughed and Woody just shook his head.

"It wasn't that hard." Shaking my head. Everyone looked at me with their eyebrow raised, so I felt the need to explain. "He always wears gray athletic socks, he was wearing thin nylon navy socks. His boots were used to the thicker ones so the laces were tightened more than usual. The tongue folded from the extra strain on the laces and I could see a patch of navy blue. You guys act like no one else noticed."

"Holy shit." Turner shook his head and tossed his napkin on the table. "You're like fucking Sherlock!"

"I'm really not." I laughed, looking desperately at Ranger in hopes he would help change the topic of the conversation.

"She is." Ranger winked and I groaned. "My favorite was the day that she came rushing onto the COM Floor because she thought that Hector was sick. She grabbed Brown by the collar and dragged him down to Hector's apartment. When she convinced Brown to jimmy the lock, they found him unconscious. His appendix was about to burst. He would have died if she hadn't trusted her gut and followed through."

Everyone nodded and I could feel my face heat in embarrassment. Hector, who had been quietly eating at the opposite side of the table, looked up at me and smiled.

"I'm not the only one whose life she has saved." Hector spoke quietly, causing the entire table to go quiet. The men all nodded and stared at one another in silent appreciation. Ranger squeezed my hand and pressed a kiss to my cheek.

We finished our meal and all helped clear the table. Carter's boys refused help doing the dishes, and we were all ordered to the living room for a meeting. Ranger pulled me into his lap on the sofa next to Woody. The guys all took places around the room: some standing, some sitting, and even a few pacing.

"Well, I guess I'll start." Tank sighed, running a hand over his head. "Manny traced back the IP address to a café on the south side of Trenton. We are waiting on the video feed from the interior, but the owners only cover the till. So, anything past that is just going to be speculation on our part. We are utilizing the street cameras and are going to investigate every patron of the café for the past week."

"Did he find any markers within the video? Anything imprinted behind the actual scene?" Woody rubbed his hands on his jeans. Tank shook his head.

"I am still going over the video with each of my programs, but it's been distorted so it's not been easy." Hector, who was standing by the window, crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "I am also running full facial/body recognition programs. Any tattoo or birthmark is going to be ran against anything we have in the systems."

"Silvio has been monitoring the web for anything new and keeping tabs on all activity on our personal cellphones and electronics." Lester chimed in, leaning his elbows on his knees. "Whoever this is fucked up sending that message to Beautiful's phone. Not only were we able to trace it back to an account, but we were able to find the credit card that was last used in conjunction with that account." He sighed and pressed his thumbs into his eyes for a second. "That being said, the credit card belonged to a 90 year old woman from Ohio. The card was stolen. We are working with our contact in the FBI who is helping us recover all charges made on the card to hopefully find out who stole it."

"Good." Ranger nodded, curling his hands around mine.

"I want to see the video." My voice silence the room. Tank looked to Ranger nervously and then over to Hector. "I want to see all of it. Not just the stuff you think I should see, but everything."

"I can have it set up in the bedroom later tonight so you can watch it in private." Hector spoke, his accent thick but understandable. The men all stared at him. "She deserves to know. I am not going to hide it from her."

"Thank you." I smiled at Hector and he nodded back.

"Maybe you can find something that we missed, Babe." Ranger squeezed my shoulders and I nodded. Turning back to the Tank he continued. "Do we have any new video or pictures? Anything new we need to look into?"

Hal cleared his throat nervously.

"What do you have, Hal?" Les leaned back into his seat and looked at Hal, who was clenching and unclenching his fists.

"There was a new video sent to me." He ground out. The room erupted in a barrage of swearing. "It's different. It's real."

"What?" I jumped almost out of Ranger's lap. "Show me!"

Hal looked to Ranger, who nodded. He pulled out his phone as he walked over, kneeling down next to me. He sighed and turned the screen toward Ranger and I.

The video started as a black screen before flickering to life. There, on the screen, was a grainy and shaky video of Ranger's Porsche in an alley. I could feel Ranger tense as it zoomed in. I watched as the me in the video ran around to the driver's side. Ranger growled as we watched me pull open the door and straddle the driver. The video shook slightly, but it was obvious what we were doing. The horn began to beep in rhythm to the movements and I could hear the moans and whispering in Spanish coming from the car. There was another sound that seemed closer. I focused on the sound, leaning forward slightly.

"That's enough." Ranger growled. Hal paused the video.

"No!" I reached for the video and started it again. "Listen." I turned up the volume all the way. The guys' faces twisted uncomfortably as my moaning echoed throughout the room.

"Babe, all I hear is you."

"You're not listening." I grumbled, sliding my finger to rewind the video. "Listen to the sound closest to the camera."

I played it again. There in the foreground of the video was a distinct wet sounding thwap thwap thwap.

"Is that?" Les stood and came closer, leaning his head over the speaker. "Dude's jacking it watching y'all."

"Obviously." I scowled, shaking my head. "keep listening."

I watched their face as the sound came back again. I rewound it and played it again.

'Fuck yeah that's hot' a male voice whispered in the background followed by another groan. The voice was familiar, but I had no clue who it belonged to.

"Let me hear it again." Ranger closed his eyes and listened carefully. I rewound it and stared at the video, taking in the entire scene. It was awkward to see myself in that kind of situation and, I have to admit, that it was turning me on listening to the two of us in the throes of passion.

Something in the bottom of the video caught my eye. I looked closer and felt the blood leave my face.

"Wait!" I shouted, pushing myself into a standing position and rewinding it again.

"What did you see?" Ranger came up behind me. I pointed at the bottom right corner of the screen and played it again.

"Can you make this bigger? I need to see this." I pointed to the corner again. Hector ran out of the room and came back with his laptop. We stood in silence as he plugged in Hal's phone and clicked away. After a moment, the screen filled with the video.


	5. Chapter 5

Scooting off of Ranger's lap I sat on the floor in front of the laptop, which was perched on the coffee table in front of Ranger. Hector clicked the touch pad and the video came to life.

"Can I zoom in here?" I pointed to the far corner of the screen, squinting.

"Yep." Hector tapped a few times and the image became larger. As his program worked at clearing the image my heart stopped.

The corner of the screen was the edge of a double paned glass door. The man had the phone at an angle so that only a small part of the glass was able to be seen. As his movements became more erratic, the camera angled slightly catching a reflection in the glass. Bile rose to my throat as I saw a man's hand wrapped around his dick pumping away.

"Pause it." I squeaked out, not trusting my voice. Hector paused it and looked at me, his eyebrow quirked. The image stopped mid stroke and I saw it.

"What is it?"

"Dick." I whispered, pointing at the screen.

"Babe? We know what it is." Ranger leaned forward. "We all have one."

"No." I growled in frustration. "That is DICK. My ex-husband, Dick." My hand shook as I touched my finger to the screen pointing out the distinct birthmark on my ex-husband's dick.

"Are you sure?" Hector squinted and leaned forward. "It's not a good picture and it's been a while, hasn't it?"

"He has a birthmark. It's pretty unique." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"Find him." Ranger growled out, slamming the laptop closed. "I want him in a holding cell yesterday and all his tech seized. I don't care if you have to break every bone in his body. I want him, now."

Tank, Cal and Woody rushed out of the room, their phones pressed to their ears. I knew that they were calling in to Rangeman to take him down.

"Ranger, that may be him, but I doubt he could've done the stuff you have told me about. The man can barely operate his Outlook program." I turned and took his face in my hands, stroking his hair trying to calm him.

"I doubt he has the brain capacity to either, Babe. But I am not going to let anything slip through my fingers. He took this video, I believe that one hundred percent. Whether or not he sent it is another story." Ranger pulled me forward and kissed my lips quickly. "Hector, pull the address from Hal's phone. We need to know where it came from."

"On it, boss." Hector swiped the laptop from the coffee table and motioned for Hal to follow. He stopped as he was about to reach the door. "Boss, the text that Tank had me check on earlier was sent from an online text service. I can't seem to pinpoint the IP at this time, but I contacted the service and they are releasing the information to me. They also gave me administrative access. Anything sent to any of our phones, the website or any other name on our list will be flagged and immediately traced."

"Let me know if anything comes through." Ranger sighed. Hector nodded and continued out of the room with Hal. The guys left in the room stood awaiting their orders. "I want the main video gone over again. If we missed something, I want to know about it." He turned to me. "Steph, I hate to ask..."

"I want to see it, Ranger." I smiled and turned to Lester. "Lester, can you stay with me while I watch it?"

Lester eyed me and then Ranger who just nodded.

"Let's go, Beautiful." He walked over and held out his hand for me to take. I kissed Ranger softly on the lips and grabbed Les' hand pulling myself up. "I have it on the laptop upstairs."

The moment Les and I left the living room I felt the tension kick up a notch. The remaining men all huddled together talking in low tones.

"Thanks." I leaned into Lester's shoulder as we made our way up the stairs. "I know it won't be easy to watch it again, but I don't want to do it alone."

He nodded, motioning to the left as we reached the top of the stairs.

"Ranger can't watch it again." He stated flatly, opening the door to his shared bedroom and ushering me inside. "I had to help hold him down the first time. My cousin is the strongest man I know, but this hit him somewhere deep. I don't mind, especially knowing that I can be here for you."

The room was large and had a row of 7 single beds lined up on the far side. Windows sat between each bed with a small bedside table underneath it. The beds each had crisp white sheets with a soft gray duvet and thick fluffy pillows. The guys had placed their duffel bags at the end of each bed, like a row of footlockers. Above each bed was painting like the ones on the stairwell. On the opposite side, along the door side wall, were a few small dressers each with topped with a small wooden bowl and a power supply with USB hubs.

"This place is amazing." I laughed, running my finger long the footboard of the bed closest to me. "It reminds me of Seven Brides of Seven Brothers."

"I always thought it looked like Snow White's seven dwarves." Lester winked and closed the door, striding toward the bed on the far left. I watched as he slid out a laptop from the duffle bag and flipped it open. "It will take a minute to load."

I walked over to the bed and flipped off my shoes before curling up at the end and sitting cross legged. He pushed the pillow over and sat down, pulling off his boots and setting them just under the edge of the bed. The laptop sat between us as he pulled himself against the headboard, curling his legs like mine.

The screen flickered and settled on the main screen. Les swiveled the screen around laying it flat against the bed in tablet form. Tapping a few times on the screen a program opened.

"Whenever you're ready, Steph." He took my hand and smiled weakly. Taking a deep breath I tapped the 'PLAY' icon.

The video filled the entire screen; a crackling sound flittered from the speakers. The first frame was just a blue screen with the words 'You think you know' typed in white letters. My stomach knotted as the blue screen faded into a graphic sex scene. In it, a woman that looked just like me was being pounded from behind by a man that looked just like Cal while she gagged on who I can assume was supposed to be Hector. I couldn't help but giggle noticing the flame on 'Cal's' head flickering and disappearing on some scenes.

"What? What did you see?" Les leaned forward. I pointed at 'Cal's head'.

"His skull keeps disappearing. You can even see moments where the photo shopped face isn't even put in the right place." I pointed to 'Hector'. "This man has a bunch of tats that are definitely not Hector's."

Lester leapt from his place on the bed and pulled out a notebook and pen from his duffel, scribbling down notes.

"What else?" He paused the video so that I could look at it closer.

"Alright, so…" Scrunching up my face I studied the picture. "The woman looks a lot like me; I will give them that…but…look here." I pointed at the woman's ankle. "It's hard to make out, but there's a tattoo there as well. Mine is NOT there." I laughed, pressing play and watching before pausing again. "And there…behind 'Cal's' ass there's a window. You can make out the stacks from the button factory. It's on the west side of the plant." I pointed at the blocky building in front of one of the pipes. "That can only be seen from the West side, the pipes block the view from the East and the tree line surrounding the parking lot covers it from the other two sides."

"I think I'm in love." Les laughed, shaking his head as he shorthanded all of my responses.

We continued to watch the video, pausing it and taking notes of everything that we saw, for the next three hours. Ranger hadn't come in, but based on the tingle on the back of my neck he did come and check a few times. Lester shook his head and smiled every time I paused the video to show little bits that I had noticed. The video was disturbing but seeing all of the pieces that proved how fake they were made it easier for me to disassociate.

"Beautiful, you are amazing." He leaned back stretching his arms over his head as the video ended. "You just pulled out more details then anyone even thought of. The guys are going to love all the new leads."

"I am just glad that I could help." I stood, stretching and feeling my joints crack and pop. "I can see why Ranger freaked out though; if I hadn't known that was fake I would have had a meltdown."

"Steph, there are shorter videos and pictures that we've pulled from the website and from personal email accounts and messages." Chewing on the side of his cheek he looked at me nervously. "How do you feel about looking at them?"

"Bring it on, Les." I clapped my hands. "If I wait, it will just eat away at me wondering about what it could be."

"Alright." He turned his laptop around and pulled open another program. "These are different, Steph. We can't see any of the corrections or alterations like we did in the video we just watched. Honestly, we don't know if they are real or not."

"Let's just hope that I can prove they are fake, or at least find out more about where they could have come from." I sat back down, took a deep breath and nodded.

"This first set was sent to Ranger directly to his work email. It's not publically posted, but it's easy enough to find if someone wanted to. He clicked a button and the screen filled with large thumbnail photographs. I squinted. "You can enlarge them by tapping." He tapped the first picture and I could feel the blush rush to my cheeks.

"Well, that one is me." I laughed nervously. The picture was of me and Ranger in the alley by the bonds office. There wasn't any nudity, but it was pretty hot. I tapped on the next one. "Do we really look like that?" I pointed at the next picture, which was of him and me making out in his car in front of my apartment building. Someone took the picture from the street so there was no way to really tell who could have taken it.

"You do." Les laughed, shaking his head. "It's amazing you two don't burst into flames."

Tapping through the next half dozen photos, there wasn't anything too provocative. They were dated, which showed the many times that Ranger and I did questionable activity while Morelli and I were still dating. As the last picture filled the screen I felt the blood rush to my face.

"Shit." I quickly covered the screen with my hands as a knee-jerk reaction.

"I've seen them all, Steph." Les took my hand. "Do you see anything in this one?"

It was a picture of my bedroom, the angle of the picture made it seem like whoever took it was standing in the doorway or at the end of my bed. Ranger was on top of me, my legs curled around his waist as we kissed passionately. We were both completely nude and what we were doing was very obvious. Taking a deep breath I looked over the details of the pictures.

"It was taken about six months ago." I pointed to the duvet. "I had that for only a few weeks last spring before it got destroyed by Bob."

I squinted, leaning toward the screen as I went over each pixel. I couldn't see anything out of place or anything that would tell me who took it.

"This was taken from the inside of my bedroom, Les." I didn't look up but knew he nodded. "There isn't a reflection in the glass behind my bed though. I wouldn't be surprised that someone placed a camera, but I would have seen it…or at least Ranger would have noticed, right?"

"Considering how diligent we are at sweeping your apartment and how many times your apartment has been practically destroyed it's really unlikely." He pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "Ram, I need you to go to Steph's apartment. Sweep the whole thing, both with tech and by sight. A camera was hidden in the bedroom." He glanced at the screen and took some measurements with his fingers, looking up as he did the mental math. "The video is at approximately a 30 degree angle from the cornice. It might not be there, but if it is see if you can trace back the signal."

He flipped the phone shut and let out a deep breath. We continued opening each and every file, going over every inch as Les took notes. Taking a deep breath after the last on and sat back.

"How many are from my apartment?" I asked, exiting out of the enlarged screen and scanning the smaller thumbnails. "Maybe we can find out the angles and locations to see if they all came from the same source. I am starting to think that this isn't just one person."

"I have to agree. The more you show me the less I believe this is just one person getting all of this." Standing he stretched, running his hand over his face. "I know you have people that have issues with you, Beautiful. But I need you to really think about the ones that may not show any hostility toward you."

"That narrows it down to….the entire tristate area minus the twenty-five percent of those who prefer to be hostile." I snickered, continuing my scan of pictures.

"Well, shit. Then we will have this solved before dinner." He poked at my side playfully. "So we know that one video was from Dickie. Some of the pictures were taken from hidden cameras set up in your apartment. Access to your apartment isn't exclusive, unfortunately, but it would have to be someone who can easily be in and out without being questioned."

"So you think someone would have to be breaking in on a regular basis to gain access to the cameras?" I looked up and he nodded.

"I have personally swept your apartment on almost a weekly basis because of ongoing threats. The programs that Hector created can detect any outgoing signal from your apartment. If the cameras are up and not sending out data then that means they are either on a timer or they are continuously recording. Whoever placed them would have to come in and physically remove the data." He began pacing the room, thinking out loud. "Morelli would have killed Ranger years ago if it had been him."

"Lester!" I picked up the pillow and threw it at him, missing by a mile. "I doubt that it's Joe for more than that reason. He wouldn't do this."

"Fine. Joe is out. Vinnie is family, but he's twisted enough to get off on it." He shuddered and I gagged at the thought. "Dickie may have enjoyed the video he caught of you and Ranger in the Turbo, but I don't think your neighbors would just let him walk in and out without making some sort of comment to you."

"That's true." I chuckled. "Mrs. Bestler always tells me everything that goes on in the building."

"So, if Mrs. Bestler would tell you about anyone new visiting it would have to be someone that she knows you are acquainted with. Someone she wouldn't question or even bother mentioning." Lester stopped, his face showing the questions rushing through his head. "Stephanie, I need to ask you something and I know you will be mad but please just hear me out."

"Ohhh-kay?" I drew out my question, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"Before I go and open a can of worms that I know for a fact will kick my ass I need to see if you feel that there could be legitimate concern." Walking toward me, he kneeled and took my hand in his. "Do you think that anyone…and I mean ANYONE from Rangeman, including Ranger would do this?"

"No…he wouldn't…I mean, he would, but you all would know about it. The vehicles are all tracked and…" Panic started to rise in my throat, my brain swirling around the accusations. "Lester, do YOU think one of the guys could do this? That….Ranger would do this?"

His brows furrowed, fear and confusion flashing in his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead closed it and shook his head, closing his eyes defeated.

"I know my brothers would never do this to you. I am grasping at straws, trying to find anything that could solve this." He pressed a kiss into the palms of my hands. "I know that Rangeman has put in video surveillance, but it's always connected back to Rangeman and to Ranger's personal cloud. When the threat is gone, he demands and confirms that all devices are removed and the data is destroyed."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, my brain swirling around all of the possible people who could be involved in this mess. Someone had to have access to my apartment and be able to go in and out without alerting anyone. Someone like…

"I think I know who it might be." I almost shouted, causing Les to jump. My stomach knotting tightly and I could feel my lip starting to quiver.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

"Who?" He asked his face lit up with relief.

"Dillon Ruddick." I closed my eyes, my brain insisting on him being the only logical person.

"Your super?"

Nodding, I opened my eyes as he stood and held out his hand for mine. He had grabbed his laptop and notebook, tucking it under his free arm.

"We need to talk to Ranger." He pulled me to my feet and we both rushed down the stairs, the frantic pace causing men in black to rush from various rooms of the house.

"What's going on?" Tank panted, his eyes frantically searching ours.

"Stephanie thinks she may know where some of the photos came from." Les was almost bouncing with nervous energy.

"It's not just one person." I jumped in before anyone could ask any questions. "The video of the Turbo had to be from Dickie. The pictures from inside my apartment span months; Dickie would have definitely have been cause for my neighbors to say something."

"There's no way that whoever planted a camera in her apartment had them streaming to another location, our hardware would have caught it. You know as well as I do, Tank, that her apartment is swept more than enough to prove that."

"My neighbors wouldn't just let anyone wander around my apartment without me finding out about it, especially if it was as often as Lester thinks it would have to be." We were rushing through, not allowing anyone to ask questions. "There is only one person I can think of that has that much access to my apartment that would be able to not only install them, but maintain them."

"Dillion." Ranger growled, his eyes narrowing. He pulled out his phone. "Bring me Dillion, and any tech you find in his apartment."

"There's more." Lester was vibrating with nervous energy. "Steph watched the video. We went over the pictures and not only did she find out the general area where they were shot, but there is so many details we missed."

Ranger took my elbow, tilting his head for everyone to follow him into the living room. Lester rushed forward, pushing past Hector who had set up a table in the far corner. He had hung a large screen projecting the multiple monitors he would normally have at his Rangeman office.

"What the fuck, Santos?" He growled, standing over Les as he grabbed the HDMI cable from the Hector's laptop and plugged in his own.

"Chill, Brother. Steph has found shit."

This seemed to calm Hector a bit as he helped Lester set it up so that the laptop screen projected onto the wall. The beginning scene of the video flickered on it as Lester flipped off the lights.

"Why are we watching this?" Ranger growled, hands on his hips next to me.

"I need you guys to look at the things she found and see what we can gather from it as a group. You know as well as I do that the more eyes the better." Lester turned back to the Hector who was manning the laptop, pulling out a small flashlight to read from his notebook. "Go to the first scene Hector, and pause it."

I heard Ranger growl as the scene lit up the room. Cal and Hector looked nervously at Ranger and then at me.

"How is this going to help?" Ranger growled again, closing his eyes and pressing the heels of his hands against them.

"Well, number one…" Lester pointed up at the screen. "We know where this was shot, or at least the general location. These stacks can only been seen from the West side of the button factory. Based on the distance between the stacks and the window the apartment has to be about 200 meters from them. Also based on the height of the window and the angle, I know that it has to be on the fourth floor."

"There is only one apartment building with more than four floors within that radius and in that direction. I can't tell exactly which apartment, without taking more measurements, but we know where the video was made."

"Holy shit." Cal gasped, running his hand over his bald head. "How could we have missed that?"

"Probably because of the action on the screen." I laughed, stepping toward the screen and tapping on it. "These are obviously not you and Hector. For one, you can see the tattoo on this man's head flickering and not adjusting properly as he moves. Hector put it in motion."

"As for this man." I moved and pointed at the other man on the screen. "His tattoos are distinctive and even more importantly they are definitely not Hector's. This one here." I pointed toward a grouping of symbols spread across the man's side. "Has to mean something. They look like gang tats or some sort of group."

"Those are Blue Zephyrs' tags." Tank scooted forward, squinting at the scene. Hector paused it. "They died out years ago, if this man is still alive he has to be one of the few left. He can't be that hard to find."

"That's not all!" I jumped behind Hector and pointed toward a point in the video where Lester and I had one of the biggest breakthroughs.

"Damn this girl IS fucking Sherlock!" Turner exclaimed, slapping his hand on his knee. "It's like watching fucking CSI."

A smack sounded in the room as Carter slapped the back of his head in true "Gibbs" style. We all chuckled until the video began again on the screen. This was incredibly brutal to watch. It was some sort of gang bang involving a large group of the Rangeman crew. Drugs, guns and money scattered around the room and everyone in the scene was participating.

"Damn!" Turner exclaimed, quickly silenced by another well placed smack from Carter.

"This one." I took a deep breath. "Besides being fucked up." A murmur of affirmation wafted through the room. "it shows a lot more information then I think the creator wanted it to."

"I want you to look really closely right here." Lester pointed at a table in the corner of the room across from the camera view. On it was a picture frame with a Leave it Beaver type family portrait in it. The people in the frame weren't what were important, as it looked to be the generic stock photo used in packaging. "Right here is a red light. Anyone want to tell me what that red light is?"

"It's the fucking camera!?" Ranger almost shouted, rushing toward the screen. "Zoom in, Hector, maybe we can see a face."

"On it." Hector began tapping away, the image temporarily flickering off the screen .

"She saw it, but we couldn't get close enough on the laptop to see who it was." Lester smiled, proud of our contributions.

"Got it." Hector exclaimed, tapping the keys which pulled the zoomed in image on the screen. After a few more taps the image came into focus. "Oh shit."

"Oh shit!" Les turned, his face paling.

"Sweets!" I shouted, the face of my friend Sally Sweets filling the screen. His large frame and choice of clothing and hairstyles set him apart from most people. "He couldn't have." I felt my knees buckle.

Ranger caught me before I hit the floor. The men all stared, mouths agape. Only Carter, Turner, Jaxson and Ryan stood with a confused expression on their face.

"Find him, now." Ranger ordered, and the men scattered. He turned to me, his arms wrapped around his waist. "I don't want to go back to Trenton until we have to, Babe. It's taking every ounce of control to not get in a vehicle and drive there like a bat out of hell."

"He wouldn't do this. He couldn't do this, would he?" I whispered, the barrage of questions and fear of those questions being right making my head ache. "Why would he do this?"

"I don't know, Babe. I don't know." Taking me into his arms bridal style he passed Carter and the boys who were standing mouth opened. I curled into his hold, taking in his scent. Taking the stairs two at a time he stopped at the bedroom door. "Babe?"

I twisted the knob and he pushed it open, kicking it closed as he strode to the bed. Depositing me gently on the mattress, he flipped off my shoes and quickly took off his boots before crawling in next to me and pulling me against him. We held onto one another as if letting go meant drowning. Silent tears rolled down my face as he pressed gentle kisses along my chin as he whispered.

"Babe, I wish I could take all this away. I hate that I let this happen." His voice was so soft, his emotions peeking into his tone making it husky. He sighed, changing to Spanish as he kissed away the tears falling down my cheeks.

I felt so overwhelmed, so confused. I hated feeling like the victim, and that someone could have so much power over me. I hated that Ranger and his men were hurting because someone wanted to hurt me. My sadness and self-pity was slowing evolving into a deep seated rage. My tears dried and my jaw clenched thinking about all the people this asshole has hurt. All the lives they have ruined; and for what? To embarrass me? Ensure that Joe and my mother continue to be disappointed with me? Show the 'Burg that I am not worth the hype? They had to know that something like this wouldn't push Ranger and his men out of my lives, but pull us closer together. They are men of honor and loyalty.

"I want them dead." My voice was so harsh and cold that it surprised even myself. Ranger stopped and leaned back looking at me. "I want them dead. I want them to hurt and I don't want it to be easy."

"Steph?"

I sat up, peeling myself from his arms, but maintaining contact from our hips down.

"Ranger, I want to kill whoever did this. They hurt you. They hurt the men that I honestly consider my brothers. What kind of punishment would they get from the law?" I snarled the last part causing Ranger to wince at the harshness. "They won't see jail time. They probably won't even be charged with anything. This bullshit will forever follow all of us because some asshole wanted to come after me. What kind of coward does this shit?!"

"Steph, I get what you're saying. The moment I saw this I wanted blood. We will find who did this, but I can't let you…I know you have killed before. I know you understand what it entails, but I can't let you do that. You don't deserve to carry that." He cupped my face in his hand, turning me slightly so that I could look into his eyes. "Whoever did this will NOT go unpunished. If I have to keep them locked in the holding cells at Haywood, torturing them until the end of time, I would. I would do anything for you."

"I know." I sagged in defeat, my anger dissipating at Ranger's confession. Words hung over our heads. Words I have wanted to say, and have been praying for him to say for years. But this wasn't the time. This was not going to be the thing that gives us our someday.

Our breath combined as we sat forehead to forehead. His calm passed through me and I felt his shoulders relax. My mind ran through the things that I had seen today. The images disturbing and embarrassing. One, in particular, stood out. One haunted me.

"I hate that you had to see that." I whispered, remembering the aftermath of my attack two years ago. The rage that oozed from him was tangible; the hurt took my breath away. I had sought counseling, via a therapist Rangeman had on retainer. Ranger and Hal had even joined in some of the sessions and I know that I was as recovered as anyone could be after something like that.

"I know." His whispered, his thumb stroking my chin softly. "I have failed you so many times. After what happened, I had created this image of what must have happened. It was nothing compared to the fear and hurt that showed in that image."

"It was one of the worst experiences in my life." I swallowed hard. "The worst was watching you offer your life for mine. The nightmares from the assault stopped after a while with counseling, but that image...that feeling has never left me."

"Babe." He looked into my eyes, his blank face completely gone and guilt etching his features. "I would do it again in a heartbeat. I accepted that my life was worthless without you in it. It was selfish of me to make a decision like that, but I can't even imagine…"

I pressed my lips to his, interrupting him. The kiss wasn't heated and didn't send me into a hormonal tizzy like his kisses usually did. It felt as if my very soul lightened. We poured all those unspoken words and emotions into the kiss, clutching one another tightly. Breaking this kiss, he smiled and tucked a girl behind my ear.

"You did a good job today." His eyes focused on my lips. "I have always been proud of you, but this is more than I thought anyone could manage, let alone find the things you did."

"I still don't think it's just one person, or if it is I don't think the others knew they were contributing to this." I sighed. "Did I do this? I mean, do I do something that causes people to want to hurt me like this? Am I a bad person?"

"God, no." His eyes closed as he shook his head. "You are so beautiful, so smart and funny. You have this way to you that makes people want to be near you. When they realize that they can't have you they turn to this kind of shit. This is not something you did. I love who you are. I love that you are loving and kind."

"I love who you are, too." I smiled, amused how we both found a way around saying those three words without qualifiers.

There was a knock on the door.

"Enter." Ranger spoke but never looked away from me. Tank walked in a smile on his face.

"Boss, we have them all in custody and we found quite a bit of information." His smile was contagious as I matched his smile, looking back at Ranger.

"So soon?" Ranger turned now to look at Tank with his eyebrow quirked.

"You have been up here for six hours, Ranger." He chuckled and my mouth fell open. "Come downstairs. I think we have an idea of what happened, but we want all eyes on it. Then we can have some food and figure out our next step." He motioned his head toward me and winked.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

We made our way down stairs, our hands clasped together. The Core team all sat around the dining room table, grins on their faces.

"You all look like the cat who ate the canary." I smiled, watching their faces brighten.

"Let us have it, Brothers." Ranger waved his hands toward the other end of the table as he and I sat down. Hector was at the head, his laptop in front of him and the white screen that had been in the living room was now covering the wall behind him.

"We were able to detain all three of the men. Easily." Tank grinned.

"Like freakishly easy." Lester laughed, shaking his head. "We did have to dip into the spare pants department though, Boss. All three managed to wet themselves the moment they realized where they were and who took them."

Ranger waved his hand asking them to continue as he chuckled.

"So, Ram was able to determine that there were cameras positioned in various locations in your apartment, Steph." I winced. "I'm sorry, Little Girl."

"Where were they?" I asked, biting my lip as I awaited the answer.

"Bedroom; which we knew about, living room, kitchen, entry way and…"Cal cleared his throat looking away. "And the bathroom."

"Are you kidding me?!" I shrieked, embarrassment hitting me square in the face reddening my cheeks. "He watched me in the bathroom!?"

Ranger was taking some deep breaths, gently squeezing my hand.

"We were able to retrieve the data from Dillion's hard drives. It's hundreds of thousands of hours spanning back years. The format had changed a few times, which tells me that he upgraded the system as it was needed or as the previous models were destroyed." Cal fidgeted as he spoke, and I knew that he was uncomfortable.

"Who is viewing the video?" I spoke quietly, biting my lip.

"No one as of right now." He sighed. "We didn't think that it was right to just watch them. You have had enough of an invasion of your privacy. We wanted you to make the decision."

I nodded. "Thank you, guys. I appreciate that." I thought for a moment before speaking again. "I am okay with you guys watching it, but I don't want just anyone from Rangeman to. I know you all have my back and I trust every single man in black but this….this needs to have another level of trust. Does that make sense?"

"I can have Ram bring the hard drives up here with the rest of the data if you would like?" Tank chimed in, kneeling down so that we were eye to eye.

"What other information did you find?" Ranger looked to Hector.

"Boss, The Dick admitted to being the spanker on the Turbo video. As a lawyer he knows that if it's leaked that it was him, he would be ruined." Hector snickered, muttering under his breath something about deserving it. "He claims that he stumbled across the scene and after realizing that it was Stephanie to record it. He thought that maybe it was some sort of back-alley deal…illegal shit and what not. I guess he is still harboring some resentment. He began recording before realizing exactly what was going on. Admitting that he continued because he…."

"We know why he did it, Hector. Don't need to get into that many details." Lester scowled at Hector who stared back. They had a silent argument for a moment before Lester ground out. "Fine."

"He missed hearing the sounds you make." Hector winked at me. Ranger laughed and I could feel the blush come across my face again. "When asked if he uploaded the video, it became obvious that he wasn't the one behind the distribution."

"Why do you say that?"

"For a lawyer, that man has no idea how to lie." Tank chuckled, pulling into a chair next to me. It was true, Dickie was a horrible liar but for some reason he was a decent lawyer. "According to Ram, he acted like they were speaking another language when they asked simple tech questions."

"That and I linked up to his computer, both home and work, and found a Trojan." Hector grinned again, pressing a few keys on his computer. The screen flickered to life showing a map of the world with bright red glowing lines tracing all over the globe. "The Trojan infected his computer, as well as Dickie's, via an email. When he opened it, it gave the sender access to anything that he had on his system, and anything he put on it." The email popped up. "You may recognize the sender of the email."

"Randy Briggs!?" I rolled my eyes and cursed under my breath. "Okay, so it doesn't surprise me but I don't see him doing this much work for anything, especially without bragging about it."

"That's what I thought." Lester smiled, tapping Hector on the shoulder as to say 'told you so'. "So, I hacked into his computer system, which by the way was super easy." I rolled my eyes as he chuckled.

"Other than the absolutely disgusting shit we found." Cal shivered. "We found this." He tipped his head toward Hector who nodded and tapped away again.

"Another Trojan." Ranger groaned. "This is insane. Where did it come from?"

"This one was harder." Hector grimaced, cracking his knuckles. "I am still trying to get a lock on it, but whoever created this one is smarter than I had anticipated. Not only is it triple encrypted with some crazy shit I can't even get into explaining, but he's bouncing the trail all over the place in the weirdest most random places."

"There aren't too many people I know that could do that." I sighed. "You being the first."

"There's only one thing that I have managed to find." He tapped away again, minimizing the window and popping up another one. "He leaves a call sign on the end of his encryptions. I haven't seen it before, but I am scouring the dark web and asking around. I'm still working it though. I will let you know as soon as I find anything."

"What about Sally Sweets?" Taking a deep breath I look over to Tank. "What about the video.

"That's where we found some more interesting stuff." Tank tipped his head toward Hector who tapped away again. A website flooded the screen ."This is how Sal was making money while he was waiting to hit big with his music career. He started a production company with his cousin, Aaron Burgess, who had some connections within the adult film industry. He was the one who directed the video clips that we saw, but we couldn't find any of the altered versions on any of his or his cousin's systems. We did, though find them on Briggs'."

"So, Sweets gave them to Briggs?" Ranger leaned back into his chair. The whole thing was so confusing. "Did he do the editing?"

"Silvio is still working on his hard drives. Briggs has more data than Google Servers." Cal spoke up again, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "What we did find was a different video, not made by Sweets or Burgess, edited just like the video. The programs that he has installed in his main laptop match the signatures that were left on the edited video, but we haven't found that he sent an edited version out. It seems like they were part of a private collection."

"Why does that not surprise me?" I groaned leaning back into Ranger's shoulders and closing my eyes.

"Because Briggs is a twisted little fuck." Lester chuckled. "I don't blame him to a degree. As a very sexually charged man, I can understand his need to personalize his porn. But unlike Briggs, instead of altering previously recorded video I create my own."

"Perv." Giggling I shook my head. Before anyone could speak my stomach erupted into a huge growl. Embarrassed, I covered my face.

"Let's get some chow." Tank waved at Carter who scrambled into the kitchen with Turner and Ryan following. "Let's head into the back. The boys set up the sunroom for us to eat, since we took over the dining room."

Raising an eyebrow, I watched as the men filed out of the room after Tank. Ranger and I, hands clasped followed. The sun room was smaller than the dining room, but filled with enough seating for all of us. Jaxson was standing by the glass door that leads toward a large back yard, keeping diligent watch. Carter had prepared another amazing meal. Ranger and I, and the rest of the crew, took our seats; anxiously waiting for the food to arrive. It smelled amazing; garlic, cheeses and vegetables. He placed two giant baskets of garlic rolls on the table as well as pitchers of water and red wine.

"Coming through!" Ryan announced, carrying four plates on his arms. As he deposited a plate in front of Hector and Lester, Turner came in with his arms loaded as well. I watched licking my lips as the plates filled the empty spaces getting closer and closer to mine. When I looked up, noticing that everyone but Ranger, Carter and I had plates I frowned.

"My apologies." A tall man with dark brown hair and bright green eyes sauntered into the sun room, holding the last four plates. "I was arranging the dessert."

I stared open mouthed at him as he set my plate in front of me.

"Babe, catching flies." Ranger gently tapped the underside of my chin. I quickly shut my mouth and took a deep breath in; moaning at the amazing smells filling the room.

"Stephanie, this is Antony Cretzio. He was….otherwise engaged at lunch." Carter laughed. I looked up and saw a deep blush cover Anthony's face.

"Oh, yeah." Turner ribbed, elbowing Anthony in the ribs. "I walked in your engagement, didn't I, Tony?"

"Shut it." Anthony slumped down, picking at his food with his fork.

"Now children." Carter clapped his hands getting everyone's attention. "Anthony made this wonderful meal tonight." Motioning toward Anthony with a smile; appreciative grunts followed. "When he realized that Stephanie was here he knew he wanted to feed her well. It's not every day we get a beautiful woman who enjoys food as much as she does."

Now it was my turn to blush. Angling my head down, I dug into my food. It was one of my favorite meals; cheesy rigatoni with roasted potatoes and cabbage. My grandmother Plum used to make it for me on my birthday when I was little. My mother always attempted to recreate it, but it was never the same. I took a bite, moaning softly and closing my eyes.

"Thank you for your compliments." Anthony whispered. I looked up at him and smiled. He was across the table from me next to Ryan and Lester.

"It's wonderful. In fact, this was my favorite dish growing up." I took another bite, not even bothering to lessen the moan that came out. "My grandma Plum would make it for me and no one has been able to come close to hers….until you."

His smile increased, showing all his perfectly straight white teeth.

We all ate, chatting casually but never bringing up the chaos we were dealing with. It was something that I always loved about the guys. They knew that there was a time to work and a time to not. They could be running all day, chasing skips and being bad asses, but the moment they stepped home they were just themselves. I have tried to keep work outside of my home, but let's be honest…usually its work that invades my home not the other way around.

The dinner dishes were cleared before Carter and Anthony brought in dessert; tiramisu. It was odd being hidden away from the world at a safe house and enjoying a meal like we were. The guys were all laughing and talking about their latest conquests, or new equipment. Ranger sat in silence, a calm expression on his face. It made me wonder who this 'Carter' guy was, and why Ranger was so comfortable being here. Usually he is guarded, even when there isn't any obvious threat. The only place I have seen him like this was at his apartment on the seventh floor of the Haywood building.

The sun had set and Jaxson had flipped on a web of pixie lights that ran around the room and criss crossed over the exposed beams of the sun room. It was quiet, except for the guys' conversation and the far off chirping and skittering of animals that lived along the wood line. Being a Jersey Girl, born and raised in the 'Burg, it was odd having this almost deafening quiet around us.

"Babe." Ranger whispered, breaking me from my thoughts. Anthony was standing behind me, his arms loaded up with empty dishes. He raised his eyebrow and looked at the empty dessert plate in front of me.

"Sorry, I kind of spaced out a bit there, didn't I?" Chuckling I handed Anthony my plate and fork. "It was an amazing meal, Anthony. Thank you."

"You are more than welcome, Ómorfos." He winked and scurried off to the kitchen. I stared after him.

"Did he just call me a MOFO?" I whispered to Ranger, who laughed out loud at my query.

"Babe, he said. Ómorfos. It means 'Beautiful' in Greek." He picked up my hand and kissed the knuckles his voice dropping an octave. "It's true in any language, Stephanie. I can't fault the man for expressing what I have always known."

My face flushed and I looked away, the intensity of his gaze was overwhelming.

"He needs to come up with a better nickname than that." Lester grumbled, picking up his glass of wine and downing it in one swig. I shook my head and he winked at me. "I bet if he called you 'Morò' Ranger wouldn't be so giving."

"Damn straight." Ranger tilted his head back, swigging his ice water and setting it back onto the table with a thud. "But cousin, she is beautiful to everyone I can never deny that, but she is MY Babe."

"Touchè." Les tipped an invisible hat and Ranger laughed, curling his arm around the back of my chair and kissing the top of my head.

"You all have nicknames for her, don't you?" Ryan asked, leaning back on his chair and looking around the table.

"We do." Cal winked. "She's my Angel."

"Little Girl." Tank smiled.

"Beautiful." Lester blew me a kiss and winked.

"Bomber." Bobby shrugged, a blush creeping up around his ears.

"Firecracker." Woody made his hand and fingers into a gun, 'shooting' me. I laughed and rolled my eyes.

"Wifey." Manny laughed and Ranger groaned. "Ranger, she may be your babe but she's my wife."

"You wish, Man. You wish." Hal pushed Manny shoulders and looked me in the eyes. "I don't have a nickname for her. I call her by her name."

"There's always that one…" Ryan laughed and Hal scowled.

"Mi Todo." Hector smiled and the men all raised their glasses in agreement.

"What does that mean?" Leaning forward with my arms on the table. "You've called me that ever since that night in Atlantic City."

"It means 'my everything'." Tank explained and I watched as Hector smiled, lifting an eyebrow at me as if to say 'exactly'. "We are all in agreement with that one, Steph."

"My personal favorite is the name that she has for you." Cal pointed his cup hand at Ranger, who raised his eyebrow. "Batman."

"Oh lord." I giggled, leaning back.

"I can totally see it." Carter laughed, his head tilted to one side as he looked at Ranger. "Are we going to be installing a bat signal anytime soon? Because I would LOVE to be a part of that."

"Not going to happen." Ranger shook his head and filled his glass again; this time with wine. "I'm not Batman any more than you guys are the Merry Men." His lips quirked into a smile as the group gave a collective groan.

We sat until the sun had completely disappeared into the horizon and the moon was sitting center stage in the sky. Everyone was fat and happy, some a little more pickled then I was used to seeing but overall in good spirits.

"Well, Lady and gentlemen." Carter rose, stretching his back. "It's time for this old man to hit the sack."

"Some of y'all are bunking with us out in the barn." Jaxson smiled, pushing back his chair and standing. "The rest will head up with Anthony. He doesn't like the possibility of critters crawling on him in his sleep."

The guys said goodnight, kissing my cheek or the top of my head as they leave to their respective room. Ranger, Carter, Les, Tank and I were left.

"I can't believe it's been less than 24 hours since this shit show started." Tank sighed, closing his eyes and rubbing his hand over his head. "I feel like I have aged ten years today."

"We have already have a lot of good information." Ranger spoke confidently, his thumb rubbing circles over my knuckles. "Once Hector and Silvio finish going over the tech we seized I bet we will be knocking in some teeth by the end of the week."

"Teeth knocking, huh?" I poked his side, leaning against him. "I just want this whole thing to go away. What's going to happen once we find out who did this? It's not like it will be unseen."

"There's not much we can do about people having seen it, but we are monitoring every channel we can so that we can stop anything new from being distributed."

"So, Steph, you say that you personally know the people that were brought in?" Carter switched seats pulling up next to Ranger and I. "The guy jerking it…he was your ex?"

"Unfortunately." I growled. "He is my ex-husband. We were married for minute years ago. For the most part we both kind of went our separate ways. I have had to go to him a couple times over the past few years, and he did try to set me up for criminal charges."

"I have been thinking about the intel that we have gotten from Haywood about Sweets and Briggs." Tank leaned forward. "It doesn't surprise me that Sweet is producing porn, I mean it's not far off from some of his other ventures. The majority of the people he associates with are fellow musicians, drag queens or some other artsy-fartsy shit."

"Artsy-fartsy." I giggled.

"Briggs is good on a computer." Ranger stared out into the darkness of the back yard. "And he's irritating as all hell, but I wouldn't have thought he would do something this big without trying to at least get recognition for it."

"To be fair, I don't think anyone would have guessed Dillion would have been a stalker, but we all know different." Tank grabbed my hand as I cringed as his name. "Little Girl, we are getting closer. You have been an amazing asset in this. Just don't overwork it."

"I will try." I squeezed his hand and smiled. A yawn ripped through me before I could stop it.

"I think it's time for bed." Ranger smiled and stood, holding out his hand for me. I took it, kissing Tank and Les on the top of their heads and waving to Carter.

"Good night, guys." I called over my shoulder as Ranger led me through the house and up the stairs to our bedroom. I was exhausted. Hopefully tomorrow will bring everything to light.

**Author's note: Another chapter. One more step closer. I will try to keep putting up one chapter a day, minus Sunday. Thank you for all your wonderful reviews.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Ranger closed the door behind him and locked it when we made it to the bedroom.

"Feeling insecure?" chuckling I began to dig through my bag for pajamas.

"No, just want to make sure that no one comes rushing in here and end up getting shot." Like smoke he appeared behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing my neck.

"That wouldn't be good at all." Moaning I leaned back against him, reveling in his touch.

"Why don't you get changed." He stepped back and patted my ass. "I don't know about you, but I am exhausted."

"I feel like I haven't slept in a week." I stepped into the bathroom with my pajamas curled in my arms. I washed my face, brushed my teeth and changed into my pajamas before stepping into the bedroom. Ranger was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring out of the window at the moon. He was wearing a pair of black silk boxers and nothing else.

Crawling up behind him, I slid my arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. He smiled and pressed a kiss to my hands.

"Let's get some sleep." He sighed and turned, pulling me into his arms. Kissing me softly, he curled around me and we got into our sleeping position. "Good night, Babe."

"Good Night." I sighed, and closed my eyes sleep overtaking me almost instantly.

I awoke still curled around Ranger, who lay on his back with his arm tossed over his face covering his eyes. I smiled and took it all in. His chest rose and fell slowly, his heart beating steadily. I watched, not wanting to wake him for almost an hour before I saw his lips twitch up on one side.

"Morning." I whispered, leaning up and kissing his full lips. The twitch turned into a full smile as he raised his arm from over his face and looked at me. His face was still soft from sleep, his hair mussed and his eyes barely more than slits.

"Morning." He cleared his throat and ran his fingers through my hair. "How'd you sleep?"

"Great. You?"

"I always sleep well when I am with you." He wrapped his arms around me and slid me on top of his chest. Leaning down I kissed his lips, lingering and enjoying the moment.

We stopped as my stomach growled loudly, followed by an equally impressive growl from Ranger's stomach.

"You're stomach is teaching my stomach bad habits." He laughed, tipping his head back into his pillow.

"Maybe your stomach finally realized all that he's missing eating rabbit food." I leaned and poked his belly playfully before sliding off the bed. Stretching I looked out the window. Ranger was instantly behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing the back of my neck.

"Why don't you go and do your morning thing and I will see if Carter has thought about breakfast yet."

Nodding, I made my way into the bathroom to do my morning routine. I used the restroom, washed my face, brushed my teeth and pulled my hair into a ponytail. When I got out, Ranger was just walking back into the bedroom.

"Breakfast is in ten." He winked, slipping into the bathroom and closing the door. I dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. I was tying my shoes when Ranger came out of the bathroom freshly shaved and minty. He tugged at my pony tail as he walked toward his bag, pulling out clothes and getting dressed.

Instead of his usual black on black, he pulled out a pair of jeans and a dark green t-shirt. I raised an eyebrow at him and he chuckled.

"Babe. I don't always wear black." He sat down next to me and slipped on his boots. I watched as he tied them, tucking his laces into the edge. "Ready?"

"I've been waiting on you, Batman." I teased, poking his shoulder.

"Oh really?" He stood a smile split across his face. "Waiting on me?" I nodded and he lunged at me.

"EEEEEEEP!" I screeched as he flipped me over his shoulder and smacked my ass. "Ranger put me down!"

"Not a chance in hell." He swatted my butt again and opened the front door. Lester and Hal were standing, boxer clad, in front of us. Well, in front of Ranger…and in front of my ass.

"What the fuck." Les shook his head as I peeked around Ranger.

"Morning." I smiled cheerfully and wiggled my fingers in greeting.

"Beautiful, you're going to be the death of me." He laughed and smacked my ass before turning and heading back to his room. Hal shook his head, smiling and winking, as he followed.

"He smacked my ass."

"Yes, he did." Ranger laughed and smacked it again. "I'll kill him later. I'm starving."

I giggled as he ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. Tank, Carter, Ryan and Jaxon were sitting at a small kitchen table drinking coffee. Antony was at the stove flipping pancakes on a large griddle set over the gas burners and stirring a large cast iron pan filled with scrambled eggs.

"Morning." I called, pushing my ponytail out of the way and bracing myself with my arms extended and hands planted on Ranger's lower back.

"Morning, Little Girl. Ranger." Tank took another sip of his coffee, not even blinking at Ranger's playful side.

Ranger deposited me on the counter top next to the coffee pot and pulled out two cups. I filled them when he placed them on the counter and he went to get sugar and milk. He poured the right amount of milk as I dumped my four spoonfuls of sugar into it. We were a well-oiled machine when it came to coffee time. I was blowing on my coffee as Ranger leaned back against the counter next to me and sipped.

"Is this normal?" Carter stage whispered to Tank, who smiled and nodded. "Weird."

"Good morning!" Lester announced as he burst into the kitchen sporting jeans and an old Van Halen t-shirt. Grumbles of 'morning' fluttered out of the other guys in the room as he made a beeline to the coffee pot. Ranger grabbed another cup from the cupboard behind him and handed it to me. I filled the cup and handed it to him. "Thanks beautiful."

He sipped and grimaced, setting it down on the counter and adding sugar and milk. I laughed. He did this every time he drank coffee. I think he thought that only a man's man drank black coffee, but he couldn't stand it that way.

"Is everyone else up and moving?" Lester asked, sipping his sugary coffee and sighing.

"Yep, y'all are the last ones up." Ryan chuckled and sipped his coffee. Hal strolled into the kitchen and smiled as he saw me and the coffee maker.

"Need coffee." Hal mimicked the monster of Frankenstein and hobbled over to me, standing between my knees as he slid his head between my face and my cup. I pressed the edge of the cup against his lips and tipped it sending coffee into his open mouth. "Yum!"

"Get your own!" I poked at his chest and he looked at me with his pouty face; quivering lip and all. "Ugh...fine."

"Yumm." He took my cup and settled against the cabinet on the other side of Ranger who was looking at him and shaking his head.

"Look what you did to my men, Babe." Ranger smiled and handed me another cup. I shrugged and set to work creating another cup of sugary goodness.

"Breakfast is served." Anthony set two heaping plates of eggs, bacon and pancakes on the table in front of Tank, who immediately filled his plate and began to eat.

The rest of us made our plates and either sat at the table, or leaned against the counter to eat. I finished last, after having seconds. Lester and Hal had filled the sink and were washing dishes. After handing him my plate and fork, I reached up and kissed them both on the cheek.

"I will get the dinner dishes." I waved my hand when all the guys spoke against it. "Hey, I need to contribute. I can't cook…or at least you won't want me to cook. So, I can do the dishes. I'm good at them and I don't mind it."

Ranger and I made our way into the living room, fresh cups of coffee in our hands.

"Hector found some new information." Tank strolled in behind us and sunk down into the sofa. "He is going over it with Silvio and will give us an update when they are done."

"That's great." I smiled, looking from Ranger to Tank. Both of them held a neutral expression. "I mean, its good news right?"

"I hope so." Ranger curled his arm around me, pressing me into his chest and planting a kiss on my cheek.

Lester and Hal walked in and went straight toward the mini office that Hector had set up yesterday. They began turning on the laptops and the projector. As they all hummed to life, Hector and Cal walked in their heads tilted toward each other in whispering conversation. Cal stopped as Hector slid into the chair behind the laptop and shook his head before turning around and smiling at me.

"Morning, Cal." I couldn't help but notice the lines creasing his forehead, making the flaming skull distort slightly. I unwound myself and stood, walking up to him and taking his large hand in mine. He curled in me into an embrace and sighed.

"Angel." He whispered, stress seemingly rolling off of him as he spoke. "How'd you sleep?"

"Better than you it looks like." Leaning back slightly I took in his face. There were shadows under his eyes and his skin held an almost gray coloring. "You feeling okay?"

"I'm fine." He smiled weakly and tapped my nose with his index finger. "Jaxson snores like a bear."

Giggling, I shook my head and went back to take my seat with Ranger. The rest of the guys, including Carter and his boys, filed into the living room and took places around the room. Dining room chairs were brought in but most of the guys chose to stand against the wall. I don't blame them. They don't like sitting still when they think something should be done.

"Ready?" Hector called to Tank, who grunted and nodded and he pulled himself out from the plush sofa he was sitting on.

"Alright. So we have some new information." He cleared his throat and everyone watched him in silence. "Hector was able to trace the secondary Trojan pretty much back to its sender. We don't have a name, but we have a general location."

"The hacker isn't that big in the dark web." Hector continued where Tank left off, clicking on some keys and bringing up a map of Trenton. Red dots and lines spread across the area. "He is skilled, I will give him that, but he seems inexperienced."

"Why do you say that?" I wondered as the guy had taken the guys a while to find him.

"He's sloppy. He does amazing coding and his firewalls are top notch, but his inexperience and immaturity shows. For one, he imbedded a tag in the Trojan. He also left it like breadcrumbs at every IP address that he bounced off of."

"What's the tag?" Ranger leaned forward slightly, pushing me at the end of his knees.

"It's the other reason why I think this guy may not be experienced." Hector chuckled and clicked again.

A symbol flashed onto the screen and I stared at it for a moment. It was a giant fluorescent pink and green letters outlined in black.

"Why does that look familiar?" I turned to Ranger, who had a similar expression on his face. "I remember seeing that someplace."

"I thought it was familiar, too." Tank rubbed the top of his head. "I think it might have been when Lula and I were…." He swallowed. "I kind of tried to forget that part of my life." He laughed.

"Wait." I stood up and stopped, staring at the screen. The guys watched as I paced back and forth. "When you and Lula were together….Shit a lot of stuff happened then." I groaned stopping and closing my eyes. "Brenda!"

"The pop star?" Carter asked. I jumped, not remembering him being in the room.

"Yes." Ranger leaned forward. "Brenda. That was a fucking nightmare." He grimaced and rubbed his hands over his face. "Hal, you were there, too. Does it look familiar?"

"Steph." Hal's eyes widened in shock. "It was on your car!"

"Holy shit, Zook!"

"Zook? That kid that everyone thought was Morelli's?" Lester's face screwed up in disgust. "What ever happened to him?"

I went to grab my phone, before realizing that it was still somewhere in the recesses of Rangeman. "I have his number in my phone. If I can get him to answer do you think you could trace it?"

"Not yet." Hector sighed. "Until I figure out how all these fit together I don't want to tip him off."

I nodded and sat back down. Ranger picked up my hand, kissing the knuckles.

"This makes my head hurt." I whined, smiling weakly.

"I'm lost as fuck." Carter laughed and pushed away from his spot against the far wall. "What you have so far is that someone who knows what they are doing somehow managed to get into all of these people's systems who just happen to have all this shit on Steph? It sounds too convenient."

"I agree." Ranger shook his head. "Whoever did this had to know that each of these people had the information that they did."

"Zook is a pain in the ass, but I can't see him doing this." I closed my eyes and tried to think. "Hector, what did he do when he got into Briggs' computer?"

"He downloaded a bunch of video files." Hector looked at me, his eyebrow quirked.

"Were they all porn?" My eyes were still closed as I tried to fit everything together. Hector tapped a few times and then stopped.

"It's hard to say. The majority of the video files on Brigg's computer was porn or at least erotic." He leaned back and sighed. "All the videos have the same editing mark as the one that was given out, except for a few that have copyrights. Those were legitimate purchases."

"The Trojan was sent from Briggs' computer to Dickie. There was one from Sweets to Briggs. The second one is Zook." I kept rolling over how, other than me, they were connected.

"Yeah." He turned and looked at me.

"What about Dillion?"

"That's something Silvio found." Hector grinned and pulled up a screen shot of Dillion's computer home screen. "Dillion wasn't infected with a Trojan, but we found that he was sharing large video files via an email address he created shortly after the videos started."

"What's the email address?" Ranger asked, standing up and joining me by Hector.

"TheDealerofNJ69 ." Hector watched as I groaned.

"I think I am starting to see what's going on." I ran a hand over my face. "I really need to talk to Mooner."

"Babe?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I might have to post every other day. Busy couple of weeks ahead of me. Thanks for all the amazing reviews.


	9. Chapter 9

AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's crazy how life can pick you up and then body slam you into the ground face first before you even register what is going on. I can't say when the next chapter will be up, but I do know that there isn't many left. Thank you for all of those that stuck around. I appreciate it more than you know. As always, keep reading and let me know what you think. ~ Obsessive Reader22

Chapter NINE

"Alright, let me know if this sounds plausible." I cleared my throat and the men stood staring at me. "So, I met Zook…a while ago… during that whole Brenda freak show."

Tank shudders.

"During that time he was obsessed with one of those online games. When he was staying with my parents, he got my grandmother hooked on it. Mooner showed up at my mom's doorstep claiming that Zook was some super powerful wizard or some shit." I shook my hands. "Whatever, doesn't matter. But what does, is that after Zook went back to his mom's I know that he and Mooner still played the game."

"So Mooner is the 'Player of New Jersey'? Les raised an eyebrow.

"No. That would be Dougie." I watched as most of the guys just stared at me. "Guys, Dougie and Mooner lived together for a while. You know, when Mooner was trying to get clean. He and Dougie got really into LARPing and online gaming as a way to keep him away from drugs."

"Dougie knew Dillion." Ranger sat back down, his face blank and his eyes searching.

"Mooner definitely knows him, and it wouldn't surprise me that they kept in touch and eventually introduced them." My hands were on my hips and I began to rock back and forth on the back of my heels. "I have had a couple of …. Instances with Dougie, so the fact that he was in contact with Dillion about the pictures unfortunately doesn't surprise me."

"What kind of instances?" Hector growled, beating Ranger, Les and Tank from asking the same; as the look on their faces were identical.

"It's nothing." I waved my hand, dismissing them and turned back to the laptop. "Ya'll know who runs the BombShell blog right?"

"Well…." Hector shifted his eyes from me to Ranger and back. "I never even looked into it."

"How could you…" Ranger growled standing up.

"Well, I know." I interrupted Ranger and motioned for Hector to get up so I could sit in front of his laptop. "Uhh…how do I get online with this thing?"

The entire screen was filled with icons that I have never seen before and even some old school DOS prompt window flickering as it went through some sort of magical tech program. Hector leaned over my shoulder and clicked on a few buttons. The familiar Google homepage filled the screen.

"It's bookmarked." Hector leaned back and crossed his arms as he stood over me. Clicking on his book mark bar, I giggled as I saw all his bookmarked pages. He growled as I turned to him, eyebrow raised. "Click the damned link, Plum."

"Alright, Alright…but you and I…" I motioned between us. "We are gonna talk about that later."

He shook his head and smiled. Clicking on the Bombshell Blog link I waited for it to upload. The posts were not there, obviously, and no new posts had been made. Scrolling down I found the dated index and clicked on January of last year. It immediately loaded and I scrolled looking for a particular post.

"There!" I pointed at the screen and looked at the guys.

"Who is that?" Tank was looming over Hector.

"No fucking way!" Hector growled and pushed the rolling chair I was in aside and opened up a new browser. "That fucking asshole."

"Someone wanna clue us in?" Lester leaned over me, his elbows propped up on my shoulders and his chin resting on the top of my head.

"It's Sebring." Hector growled out. He had opened one of the Rangeman search programs and put in Les Sebring's name. Scrolling through the reports he got to the social media/online exposure tab and pointed at the screen. "Seabreeze67 is an email address that is registered to Les Sebring. I remembered seeing it when we did that check on Jeanellen when..."

"Hector." Ranger growled out and Hector pressed his finger to his lips, making a zipper motion. "So, Sebring is responsible for the blog."

"There's more!" I pushed Hector out of the way and went back to the blog's main screen. "Grandma found this a while ago and showed it to me."

I ran the mouse over the page looking for the icon that Grandma Mazur had found months ago.

"Aha!" I clicked the small icon hidden in the images that littered the edge of the blog. A white text box opened up with a blue blinking square. "I found this a couple months ago, and played with it for a bit."

"What the hell is that?" Ranger stood next to me, leaning down with a hand on the back of my chair and one on the desk next to the laptop.

"It's some sort of weird super-secret chat." I smiled and clicked on the blinking blue box. "Grandma was chatting with someone on it one day, but they were talking nonsense and eventually realized that she wasn't who she thought that she was.

"Why didn't you tell.." Hector began, but stopped as the blinking blue box began to shoot out words. Hector read them as they typed.

'WHAT THEORY WAS NICKNAMED 'SPOOKY ACTION AT A DISTANCE?'

"What does that mean?"

"MOVE!" Hal rushed through the room and pushed both Hector and I out of the way. He began tapping away at lightning speed. "It's quantum entanglement. Einstein called it that when he was working on the EPR Paradox."

He pressed enter and waited hands on hips. Hector, Les and I looked at Hal like he grew a second head.

"What the fuck was that?" Lester finally spoke. Hal just shrugged, a blush rushing up his neck and cheeks.

"Hal has a Doctorate in Quantum Mechanics from Stanford." Ranger chuckled and patted Hal on the back.

"Seriously?" My voice cracked and I looked at Hal. "Not just a pretty face, huh big guy?"

I winked at him and he laughed tugging at my pony tail. We all stopped as typing began on the screen.

'IT WAS DONE. WHERE'S MY MONEY'

"Ranger?" Hector looked over at his boss expectantly. I followed Hector's eyes, as did everyone else. "Seems like we might have found something interesting."

"Start tracing." Ranger tipped his head back at Hector who immediately ran to a secondary computer and began tapping away. When Hector gave the thumbs up, telling us that his trace had begun, Ranger sat down on the chair and cracked his knuckles.

'I NEED YOU TO DO SOMETHING ELSE. DOUBLE THE MONEY.'

We waited, watching as Hector continued to tap away. The blue square blinked a few times before words began to spill out.

'I GOT WHAT I NEEDED. ANYTHING ELSE YOU HAVE TO FIND SOMEONE ELSE. WE HAD A DEAL.'

Ranger smiled and began to type.

'I AM SURE THAT I COULD ACCIDENTLY DROP SOME INFORMATION INTO THEIR SERVERS. INFORMATION THAT MAY BE HAZARDOUS FOR YOUR HEALTH.'

'IS THAT A THREAT?' The words barely made it out before Ranger typed again.

'I DO NOT THREATEN. JUST A STATEMENT. THIS IS NON-NEGOTIABLE. DO IT, OR I SEND IT.'

'WHAT IS THE TASK.'

"Nice." Lester hissed in celebration, almost jumping up and down.

'I NEED YOU TO MEET ME.'

'THAT WASN'T PART OF THE DEAL. YOU KNOW I CAN'T BE SEEN WITH YOU OR YOUR PARTNER.'

'WHAT DO YOU HAVE AGAINST MY PARTER?'

"Trace is complete. It's Les." Hector ground out, turning the screen so we can see. On his monitor was a live video feed of Les Sebring in his office behind his desk. "Tapped his webcam. I'm copying files as we speak."

'HE IS NOT HUMAN. THERE IS NO WAY A NORMAL MAN CAN LEAVE THAT KIND OF DAMAGE WITH HIS BARE HANDS.'

"Not human?" Tank rubbed the top of his head. "What the fuck is up with that?"

"Wulf." I whispered, turning to Tank. "I need my phone."

"Babe?" Ranger turned and looked at me. "Wulf hasn't been seen since.."

"Since Martin Munch disappeared." I snarled. "Phone. Now."

Tank raised his eyebrows and looked at Ranger, who nodded. My hands planted on my hips before he rushed out of the room and up the stairs.

"Munch?" Ranger looked from the screen to me and back. He shook his head as he typed.

'I CAN SEE HOW THAT COULD BE AN ISSUE FOR A MAN LIKE YOU. THERE HAS BEEN A BREACH ON ONE OF MY DUMMY SERVERS AND IT IS COMING FROM YOUR END. I NEED YOU TO FIND OUT WHO HAS HAD ACCESS TO THE INFORMATION I HAVE SENT YOU.'

'I CAN WIPE THE SERVERS.'

'NO.'

Ranger looked at Hector who leaned over and read over the conversation.

"Tell him that you want to connect his portable hard drives and other devices to his computer and to give the names of anyone that knows he posted it. Then have him send it to you. That way we can hopefully get how they have been connecting." Hector slipped back onto his laptop and began to tap away.

Ranger relayed the message and they both signed off.

"He has given me access to multiple external hard drives and a few portable devices. I'm copying the data as we speak, but I suggest that we send someone over to detain him just in case he gets nervous." Hector sat back with a grin on his face.

"Steph." Tank rushed in with my cell phone in his hand. He gave it to me and I groaned. It as dead.

"Shit." I went to the myriad of charging ports on the desk and plugged in my phone. Knowing my phone's battery, it would take forever to get charged enough to even start up.

"Pull the battery." Hal reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "I have the same model and my battery is full."

I did has he told me and switched batteries, handing my dead one to him. He installed it and then attached it to the charger. Pressing the power button I waited as it booted up, finally showing me the main screen. Ignoring the hoard of messages and voice mails, I immediately went to my contacts and scrolled until I got to Diesel's number.

"Holiday Hunk?" Lester chuckled, pointing at the name I had assigned Deisel.

"Inside joke."I laughed and put the phone to my ear and listened as it connected and began to ring.

" 'ello?" Diesel's voice echoed through the phone and sounded like I woke him up.

"Diesel I need.." Before I could finish he interrupted me.

"Steph?" His tone perked up and I could hear the rustling of fabric. "I knew you missed me."

"Diesel, I need your help." I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose with my index finger and thumb.

"Ranger not cutting it in the sack?" He chuckled again. "I'm not surprised."

"DIESEL!" I took a deep breath. "Focus, and stop thinking with your dick. This is serious. I need you to help me find Wulf."

Ranger looked at me, his eyebrow quirked and his lip curling into a snarl.

"Wulf?" His voice sombered. "What is going on? What did he do?"

"I need to find him and Munch. I know you can follow his ecto-plasm stuff." I ran my hand over my face and felt Ranger come up behind me.

"Where are you?" Diesel had put me on speaker phone, and I could hear him rushing around; probably getting dressed.

"Uhh…I'm not sure. Hold on." I tipped the phone a bit and looked at Ranger. "Where are we?"

He held out his hand and I gave him the phone. He pressed the speaker button and curled his arm around my waist.

"Diesel, Ranger."

"Hey…it's Ranger Rick." Diesel chuckled, continuing his movements sending all sorts of weird noises into the phone. "Where'd you hide my girl?"

"She's not.." Ranger began, but I elbowed him softly. Clearing his throat he gave Diesel our location.

"Be there in six." Diesel took off Speaker. "Steph, take me off speaker for a second."

I took the phone and complied. Ranger stiffened, but maintained enough distance to give me privacy.

"You okay, hon?" He asked, his tone showing his concern. "Are you in danger?"

"I'm safe, Diesel." I sighed, seeing Ranger relax.

"I'm bringing Carl." He laughed, and I heard a door open and close. I heard him whisper for someone to wake up and then the familiar shriek of Carl the Monkey. "Make sure that Ranger has enough antihistamine to handle me being there. He's always so cranky if he's not loopy on meds."

"I will make sure that Bobby is stocked up." I laughed and rolled my eyes, remembering the issues Ranger has had every time that he and Diesel are in the same Hemisphere.

"See you soon, Hon." He hung up and I stood there staring at the phone.

"What do I need to be stocked up on? Is he injured?" Bobby, who had been lounging on the sofa finally spoke.

"Benedryl." I laughed and Ranger groaned. "Ranger is allergic to Diesel."

"Fuck my life." Ranger took a deep breath and ran his hand over his face. "He said six minutes. Do you think that he was joking?"

"Nope." I smiled and stowed my phone back into my pocket and began walking toward the front door. "He will be here any minute. You know he's special."

"Special isn't the word I would use." Ranger grumbled and followed behind me. He stood, hands on hips with a blank face, a foot behind me as I waited for Diesel to come in the door.

Even though I was expecting it, I still jumped when there was a knock on the door.

"What the fuck?!" Raised voices echoed from the far bedroom upstairs, followed by thundering footsteps. Anthony rushed down the stairs, gun in hand, screaming at me as I placed my hand on the door knob. "Don't open the door! That man just appeared from nowhere!?"

"It's fine, Anthony. He's a friend of mine. He isn't here to hurt anyone." I raised my hand toward him asking him to put down his gun. He looked from me to Ranger, who nodded. He lowered his gun, but didn't holster it.

I opened the door and was swept into big strong arms smelling of Christmas and cookies.

"Man I missed you, Squirt!" Diesel hugged me tightly, my feet off the floor. I laughed and hugged him back. He set me on my feet and put his hands on either side of my face. "Looking gorgeous as always." He winked and crushed his lips on mine. A growl sounded behind us and he laughed, pulling back and winking again.

"Diesel." I smacked his shoulder as he side stepped me, holding out his hand to Ranger.

"Ranger. Nice to see you again."Diesel smiled, raising his eyebrows as he waited for Ranger to shake his hand. After a few seconds, Ranger sighed and shook.

"Thanks for coming." His voice was monotone and didn't give way to any kind of emotion, but I knew that he was both irritated and thankful.

"You know I can't stay away from that sex pot." He turned, Ranger's hand still in his, and winked at me. I saw the muscles in Ranger's jaw tighten, and his hand doing the same.

"RANGER!" Hector's voice echoed through the house. "I found something!"


	10. Chapter 10

Life has a way of pulling us in all different directions and unfortunately most of those directions are away from the things that we love. Though the past months I have not stopped thinking about this story, and even though the chapters seem to be coming further and further apart…this will be finished. Thank you to all the readers who have stayed with me on this journey and to the new readers that have just found this story.

I hope that I don't enrage too many of you with the many cliff hangers and 'oh shit' moments that I seem to be leaving chapters in…but I promise that without that the story wouldn't have the same effect. Please feel free to message me about anything, and please review.

Thank you again...

Obsessive Reader22

CHAPTER TEN

"Babe, you get Diesel up to speed and I will see what Hector found." Ranger raised his eyebrows and I nodded. Kissing the top of my head, he gave Diesel a sideways glance and jogged back into the living room. Lester came out a few seconds later and handed me his laptop before winking and walking back.

Diesel was still standing in the entryway, and there wasn't a monkey anywhere in sight.

"Uh, Diesel?" I asked, looking behind him at the open door. "Where's Carl?"

"He saw a butterfly." Diesel waved his hand over his shoulder motioning to a grove of trees just opposite of the door. "He'll come back in once he either finds it or gets hungry."

"Wait, there's a fucking monkey?" Anthony's draw dropped and I could see his finger twitching as he gripped his gun.

"Don't shoot the monkey, Anthony." I rolled my eyes and stalked over to him, removing his gun from his hand and replacing the safety. "Would you mind letting the rest of the guys surrounding the perimeter that there is a monkey on the property and that they are NOT to shoot him. His name is Carl, and he is our guest as well."

Anthony's expression sat perplexed for a beat before a grin slid across his boyish features. He shook his head, holstered his weapon and smiled.

"Got it, Stephanie." He leaned forward and kissed my cheek, whispering in my ear. "This guy looks at you like you are Christmas Pie. Let me know if you want me to take care of him."

"You would have to stand in line, Kiddo." Diesel laughed, stepping closer and tugging me next to him. "Men greater, stronger and wiser have tried." He winked at me. "In fact, one of them is right in the other room."

"Stop teasing." I poked him in the ribs and pushed him toward the stairs with my shoulder. "Let me take you upstairs and we can look at what we have with the other laptop."

"Straight to the bedroom." He pinched my ass as I ascended the stairs. "Always know how to keep a man interested, Plum."

"You are lucky I need you." I ground out, picking up the pace and reaching the landing in a matter of seconds. "Right in here."

I lead him into the bedroom that the guys had been sleeping in. I flopped onto the closest bed and flipped open the laptop. It was just hibernating so it almost immediately came to life. My finger hovered over the mouse.

"Before I show you this, I need to let you know what is going on." I looked up at Diesel who had remained standing next to the edge of the bed. His feet were shoulder width apart and his arms were crossed over his chest, causing his biceps to bulge. His face was serious and I could tell that joking aside, he was concerned. He had every right to be. I didn't call him for help often, but when I did it was usually pretty bad.

"I am not going to like this, am I?" He almost growled, running a hand through his hair and returning to his sentinel posture.

"Probably not." Sighing I patted the space next to me. "You might want to sit down for this."

As he sat, I quickly scrambled my brain trying to find the easiest and least likely to cause him to freak out. With no luck finding that, I decided to just spit it out and hope for the best.

"There was a rash of online submissions to the Bombshell webpage that caused both me and Rangeman to basically go into hiding." My fingers twisted around one another and my stomach knotted. "They weren't real videos, for the most part."

"What kind of videos?" He grabbed my hands and wound his fingers through mine successfully stopping my fidgeting.

"Porn mostly. Some drugs and violence. But all of it was based off sexual encounters and illegal stuff." I bit the side of my cheek. "We have all the videos, and we found where they came from. We know who took them, who distributed them…but we don't know why. I figured out how some of them are connected, but when..."

"Stephanie." Diesel raised a hand. "You're rambling. How about I ask some questions and you answer them, sound good?" I nodded. "The videos are on the laptop, I assume?"

"Yes." I pointed to the icon on the screen where the videos were stored. "They put them all together, with the pictures so that it can be viewed all at once."

"Do you mind if I watch it?" He didn't have the usual mischievous sparkle in his eyes. I nodded and looked away from the screen. Even though I knew the majority of it wasn't me or the guys it was still hard to watch. "Let me know if it gets too much, okay?"

"You too." I smiled weakly and took a deep breath as he clicked on the program. His hand squeezed mine and I closed my eyes as the sound trickled through the small speakers. I could hear his breathing increase, and his entire body tighten as the video progressed.

When the familiar 'beeping' of Ranger's Turbo floated from the screen I couldn't help the blush that took over my face. My cheeks burned and even though I wasn't watching, I knew exactly what was going on. The video sound suddenly cut short. Looking up I saw that Diesel had paused the video and turned the screen away from him.

"Steph…" He began looking from me to the laptop. He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes and took some deep breaths. "You think Wulf is behind this?"

"Indirectly, Yes." My licked my dry lips and took a deep breath. "It has been so complicated. It seems like the who's who in my life have ended up fucking me over."

"Who exactly have you pegged so far?" He ran his hand heavily over his face, the stress and emotions still evident.

"Well," I began taking a deep breath and counting off on my fingers. "Briggs, Sally Sweets, my ex-husband, Morelli's possible nephew Zook, my Super Dillion…"

"Wait…" He pressed his lips together tightly and closed his eyes. I could see his chest rising and falling slowly as he was trying to calm himself. "What about Morelli?"

"Well, he isn't tied to anything that I have found. But he isn't on my list of people I am going to be associating with after this mess is all done." Sighing heavily I l curled my legs into the lotus position and rested my elbows on my knees.

"Oh, why is that?" He mimicked my pose, and resting his head in his up facing palms. "It's not like you didn't have reason over the past decade or two to excommunicate him."

"He wasn't very supportive when he saw the videos."

"Meaning….."

"He kind of sort of slapped me…" I watched as Diesel's face fell and his eyes ice over. "I mean it wasn't hard, well not really. And to be honest if I had been in…"

"Stephanie." He all but growled my name. Taking another deep breath he tilted his head to the side and a loud crack resounded throughout the room. "No one, man or woman, has the right to put their hands on you. Ever."

"I know." My head lowered and I felt guilty for trying to sugar coat it.

"I don't think you do." He pressed the pad of his index finger under my chin and pressed it up so that I was looking into his eyes. "You are so incredibly special. More important than you can even imagine."

"Yeah, I know I know." Smiling I rolled my eyes. "Everyone is special."

"No, actually the majority of people are worthless and their lives are completely meaningless." He winked when I felt my jaw drop open. "I'm serious. Do you honestly think that me coming to you all those years ago was just by accident?"

Scoffing I ran my hand over my hair, smoothing out the imaginary bumps in my ponytail.

"You honestly don't know, do you?" He laughed and grabbed my hand. "Stephanie Plum, you are an amazing, beautiful woman. YOU are the reason I keep coming back. You are the reason why men like Ranger, his men and Morelli all come around. It's not entertainment, it's not your skills…which I'm not going to lie, have improved a lot since I first met you."

"Yeah well, that may be but I also attract crazy ass people who either want to kill me, or kidnap me."

"I can see why the latter half have that mind set." He winked and tapped the end of my nose with his index finger. "It's the other half that make the rest of us being in your life so important."

"Diesel, this mess has shown me who my true friends are."

"And your true friends are going to do what we do…take care of the most important person in our lives." He clapped his hands, immediately ceasing the touching moment. "Now, let's get the rest of this video watched. I don't know about you, but I am getting hungry."

"You know that I never deny food." I laughed as he unpaused the video and continued watching. I kept my eyes off the screen, but knew from watching it prior exactly what was going on. While he was watching I annotated the findings we had discovered. An hour later the video ended and the screen went blank.

"That was fucked up, Hon." He sighed and closed the program, pressing the laptop closed and pushing it away from us. "There's more, isn't there?"

"Yeah." I rolled my eyes, forgetting that Diesel has an uncanny abilities to read people. "But, trust me. You really don't want to watch it."

"Well, since you said that…." He stood up and stretched. "I'm assuming that Ranger has the stuff that I am missing, right?"

"Diesel…" I started, but he was out the door before I was even to my feet. "Shit."

I ran after him, impressed by how quickly he maneuvered the narrow staircase. I found him in the living room, where the men had set up a make shift control room with a cell phone in his hands. I slowed my pace to barely a crawl as I saw his expression go from confused to shock to murderous. I stopped when his head shifted up and his eyes landed on me. His eyes burned with so much anger that I could barely keep my breath. I knew immediately what he had seen, and my heart broke. As quickly as he looked at me, he whipped his head toward Ranger and lunged at him.

"You did this!" He screamed, his free hand grabbing Ranger by the throat and shoving him against the wall behind them. "You were supposed to protect her!"

Ranger raised his hand as his men moved to counter Diesel's attack, but it didn't stop me. I ran forward and grabbed Diesel's arm, desperately trying to pry his grip on Ranger's neck.

"STOP!" Crying out as tears rolled down my cheeks. Both men ignored me. Ranger's face was calm and controlled as if he agreed with the outburst.

"You swore to me that you would protect her!" Diesel's lip curled as he snarled, pressing harder. I could see the strain on his arms as he pressed. Ranger wasn't fairing any better, as his lips paled from the strain. "I wanted to stay…to keep her safe. But you said you were able to protect her better."

"Diesel, please." Tears blurred my vision as I pushed my way in between them. With my back pressed against Ranger's front I pressed with all my might against Diesel's chest. "Tank! Help me!"

Tank shook his head, lowering his eyes after flashing a quick silent look at Ranger. Damn their ability to converse wordlessly.

"STOP!" I took Diesel's face between my hands and forced him to look at me. "Please, please…stop."

He sighed, his breath catching as he stared into my eyes. He searched them struggling to reel in the explosive anger that threatened to overspill. He released Ranger's neck and immediately wrapped both his arms around me, pressing my face into his chest as he breathed in slowly. I could feel his heart pounding away heavily in his chest and his muscles tensing and releasing as he tried to calm himself.

The room was silent, and I could feel everyone's eyes on us. Everyone but Ranger. I glanced over between Diesel's arms and saw him, my Batman…my man of mystery, crumpled to the floor with his head in his hands.


	11. Chapter 11

Slowly but surely it's coming. Thanks to everyone still reading and all the new readers.

Obsessive Reader22

 **Chapter Eleven**

We all sat in silence. The room was so thick with emotion and uncertainty that it felt like large hands around your throat. Diesel kept me in his arms until his body stopped shaking, his heart beat returned to normal and the hitch in his voice was gone. The entire time Ranger, who had maintained his position on the floor against the wall, never spoke a word. His eyes never raised, his posture never uncoiled. I could feel the guilt and shame rolling off of him and wished that I could throw my arms around him and bring him back from the darkness he had succumbed to.

"Steph." Diesel's now calm voice broke my thoughts. I looked up at him through tear soaked lashes and weakly smiled. "I'm sorry. I just…You are so…" He hugged me quickly and kissed the top of my head. "Please forgive me."

"You have nothing to be sorry for to me." I smiled again and curled an arm up between us and pushed his unkempt hair from his eyes. "But Ranger didn't deserve the blame."

The men, who had been trying desperately to not look in our direction, were busying themselves with searches and whispering softly amongst themselves. Everyone but Tank and Lester. They both stood with their arms crossed tightly across his chest, their faces neutral but their eyes were piercing with anger and hurt.

Diesel released me from his embrace and took the few steps that separated Ranger from us. Tank and Les both dropped their arms and tensed. Raising a hand and nodding Diesel slid down the wall and took the spot next to Ranger. The guys sighed and it seemed like their whole body released.

"Brother." Diesel began, pressing his bent knee against Ranger's. "What I said...was completely uncalled for." He sighed and ran his hand over his face. "I trust you and know that you would never let anyone harm her."

Ranger's head tipped up and he glanced sideways at Diesel and then to me. He shook his head and lowered his knees so his legs were sprawled out in front of him. Diesel mimicked his actions. Slowly I made my way in front of them crouching down and sitting on my knees so that I was face to face.

"You are my safe place, Carlos." I whispered, reaching out and taking his hand. He jerked his hand back slightly causing me to jump but quickly recovered winding our fingers together and pulling me toward him. I landed in his lap, my legs draped over Diesel's as his arm wrapped around me and held me against him. I could hear his heart thudding softly in his chest…thwup…thwump. Minutes ticked by before he spoke.

"When I found her I went through every emotion. I was terrified and pissed off. I wanted to hold her and never let her go, but wanted to find the man who did this and break every bone in his body." He sighed and pressed a kiss to my forehead. "I blame myself every day for what happened to her. I think about all the things that I should have done to keep her safe. All the things that I didn't do haunt me and will for the rest of my life."

"You were why I was able to get through it." I whispered kissing his jawline.

"Brother…I know what you felt the moment you saw that picture. It is going to burn into your brain and keep you awake knowing what she went through. I hate that you…that my men...my friends…have to live with the horror of that image like I do." He looked up his eyes assessing Diesel's face. "The man who did this found out what happens when you hurt the people I love. He paid for it…over and over but it will never be enough. Trust me when I say that I tried to keep him alive as long as I could."

"Thank you." Diesel held out his hand and Ranger took it. They hugged with me and their enclosed fists between them. "Let's go find this son of a bitch. I don't care what Wulf has done or why…he has crossed the line."

Nodding, they both got to their feet, Ranger depositing me on mine but never breaking the contact we had. He tipped his head toward Tank and Les who nodded and turned to assist. Taking my hand in his he motioned for Diesel to follow him. We walked past the stairs and through the dining room and kitchen to the small sun room we had eaten in the other day.

We sat and began going over all the information that Diesel had missed. When we were done, he turned to me and took my free hand in his.

"So, we are looking at Munch and Wulf for the start of this shit show." He smiled and shook his head. "What a fucking idiot."

"Munch wanted me to be his woman…or prostitute or slave…whatever. He was creepy as hell. Wulf promised him me. I don't understand why he would all of a sudden do this, but I can't help but think that is the route that they took."

Diesel released my hand and sat back against his chair weaving his hands behind his head as he thought. The door to the kitchen opened and Tank peeked his head outside.

"Uhh…Boss?" He mumbled a smile threatening to break his face in two. "We have a situation."

"What?" Ranger almost rolled his eyes.

"The monkey… Carl…he's…" Tank pulled his head back in shouted something and then peeked back out. "He and Hector are about to kill each other."

"It's a monkey, Tank." Ranger sighed and ran his hand over his face. "Seriously…just give him something to eat and put him in front of the television. He'll be fine."

"Here." Diesel reached into his pocket and pulled out a Gameboy. "Give him this."

Tank opened the door more and caught the Gameboy as Diesel tossed it. Laughing and shaking his head he went back inside and closed the door.

"I think I understand what happened." Diesel pulled out his phone and dialed a number, pressing speaker as it rang.

"Information, this is Gladys how can I assist you?" A nasally voice filtered through the phone.

"Gladys, it's Diesel."

"What can I do for you, Mr. Santos?"

"Santos?" I stage whispered. "You're not a…." I pointed to the door and Diesel just laughed. I turned to Ranger who shrugged. "No one ever tells me anything."

"I need you to pull up the Plum file. Look at the last three months or so. I want activity involving Bunch, Morelli and Wulf." He crossed his arms in front of him as he leaned against the edge of the table.

"Please hold..." The phone clicked over to elevator music. Diesel clicked off the speaker option and stared at the phone.

"I have a file? What's in this file?" I was starting to get nervous. I didn't realize that I would be on someone's radar like that.

"I kind of added you to the list of clients that I keep an eye on." He grinned and gave me a wink. "It's a combination of digital information, and psychic/telepathic information that is gathered by some of my crew."

"What do you mean psychic/telepathic information?"

"Unmentionables come with all sorts of powers, sweet cheeks." He tapped my nose. "I have a guy who for lack of better example is like Professor X on Xmen. He can pin point thoughts, conversations and stuff about an individual. He records every bit of information that pertains to you."

"That's kind of creepy." My face twisted into a grimace as I wondered what that file would actually contain.

"Sir." Gladys' muffled voice cut off the elevator music. Diesel pressed speaker again.

"Go ahead." He bit his bottom lip and leaned forward.

"I'm sending you the report via email, but it is fairly large so you may want to make sure that you have a place where you can print it off or view it." I could hear her tapping away. "There is quite a lot of information that is red lined….an insane amount actually."

"What does red lined mean?" I whispered.

"It means inappropriate or disturbing." He shook his head and pressed his finger to his lips. "Gladys, I need you to check for anything pertaining to a kidnapping or entrapment."

"Okay…let's see what I can find." Furious typing again, but was quickly cut off with her speaking again. "There is quite a bit here. A Mr. Morelli has numerous plots about kidnapping and rope play…ugh…but I don't know if that's a legitimate threat or just fantasy. There is a large amount of chatter from a Martin Munch but doesn't really use the terms kidnapping. There's too much to go over with you on the phone. I will send it as a separate file."

"Thank you, Gladys." Diesel disconnected and slipped his phone into his pocket. "You got a computer I can use?"

Ranger stood and jogged back into the house, leaving Diesel and I alone.

"Does that guy record EVERYTHING about me?" I asked, picking the cuticles of my left hand nervously.

"Stephanie, he hears it all." I looked up at him and could feel the blush raise to my face as he broke out in a toothy grin. "Maybe if you are good I will let you read the ones Ranger blasts all over the place."

"I don't know…." I began, but Ranger slipped back through the door with laptop in hand. He set it in front of us and turned it toward Diesel.

"Alright, let's see what I got." Clicking onto a secure website and presenting numerous passwords and key codes he accessed his email. There were about ten emails sent from a Gladys Schmoot. He clicked on the top one and the file opened.

REVIEW…Review…..review….what can I say it motivates me. :P


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